ASC()

Syntax. ASC(text)

Definition. This function converts double-byte characters into single-byte characters.

Arguments

• text (required). The text or the reference to a cell that contains the text you want to convert. If the text doesn’t contain double-byte characters, the text is not changed.

Background. Use this function to convert double-byte characters into single-byte characters. Text data are saved, read, and transferred by using code pages. Each character is assigned a code (a numeric value). Single-byte code pages consist of only 256 characters. Double-byte code pages were developed to accommodate Asian languages, but this conversion function is of little relevance because most systems use the Unicode standards. Unicode is a universal character set for all known languages.

Note the following about this function:

• This function is not included in the Excel Function Wizard but is supported when entered manually.

• If an empty value is passed, ASC() also returns an empty value.

• ASC() returns numeric values as text.

• ASC() returns the first text from an array if an array is passed.

Example. Because this function is not widely used, an example is not shown here. You will find an example of this function only in the sample files for this book.

See Also

CHAR(), CODE()

Sample Files

Use the ASC worksheet in the Text_Data.xls or Text_Data.xlsx sample file. The sample files are found in the Chapter08 folder. For more information about the sample files, see the section titled Using the Sample Files.