Table of Contents
The CHAR function in Excel is a useful tool that allows users to easily convert a numerical value into its corresponding character. By simply inputting the desired number into the function, it will return the character associated with that specific number according to the ASCII character set. This function is particularly helpful in situations where numbers need to be represented as letters or symbols, such as in creating personalized codes or formatting data. By using the CHAR function, users can efficiently convert numbers into characters without having to manually search for their corresponding values.
This article describes the formula syntax and usage of the CHAR function in Microsoft Excel.
Description
Returns the character specified by a number. Use CHAR to translate code page numbers you might get from files on other types of computers into characters.
Operating environment | Character set |
Macintosh | Macintosh character set |
Windows | ANSI The ANSI character set was the standard set of characters used in Windows operating systems through Windows 95 and Windows NT, after which Unicode was adopted. ANSI consists of 218 characters, many of which share the same numerical codes as in the ASCII/Unicode formats. https://www.techopedia.com/definition/932/ansi-character-set |
Syntax
CHAR(number)
The CHAR function syntax has the following arguments:
Number Required. A number between 1 and 255 specifying which character you want. The character is from the character set used by your computer.
Note:
Excel for the web supports only CHAR(9), CHAR(10), CHAR(13), and CHAR(32) and above.
Example
Copy the example data in the following table, and paste it in cell A1 of a new Excel worksheet. For formulas to show results, select them, press F2, and then press Enter. If you need to, you can adjust the column widths to see all the data.
Formula | Description | Result |
=CHAR(65) | Displays the character represented by 65 in the computer’s character set. | A |
=CHAR(33) | Displays the character represented by 33 in the computer’s character set. | ! |