Microsoft Office

Part II
Working with Formulas and Functions
FIGURE 12.1
The ANSI character set (for the Wingdings 3 font).
The CODE function
Excel’s CODE function returns the character code for its argument. The formula that follows returns 65, the
character code for uppercase A:
=CODE(“A”)
If the argument for CODE consists of more than one character, the function uses only the first character.
Therefore, this formula also returns 65:
=CODE(“Abbey Road”)
The CHAR function
The CHAR function is essentially the opposite of the CODE function. Its argument should be a value between
1 and 255, and the function should return the corresponding character. The following formula, for example,
returns the letter A:
=CHAR(65)
To demonstrate the opposing nature of the CODE and CHAR functions, try entering this formula:
=CHAR(CODE(“A”))
This formula, which is illustrative rather than useful, returns the letter A. First, it converts the character to
its code value (65), and then it converts this code back to the corresponding character.
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