Returns the ASCII code value of the leftmost character of a character expression.

Syntax

ASCII ( character_expression )

Arguments

character_expression

Is an expression of the type char or varchar.

Return Types

int

Examples

This example, which assumes an ASCII character set, returns the ASCII value and char character for each character in the string "Du monde entier."

SET TEXTSIZE 0
SET NOCOUNT ON
-- Create the variables for the current character string position 
-- and for the character string.
DECLARE @position int, @string char(15)
-- Initialize the variables.
SET @position = 1
SET @string = 'Du monde entier'
WHILE @position <= DATALENGTH(@string)
   BEGIN
   SELECT ASCII(SUBSTRING(@string, @position, 1)),
      CHAR(ASCII(SUBSTRING(@string, @position, 1)))
    SET @position = @position + 1
   END
SET NOCOUNT OFF
GO

Here is the result set:

----------- - 
68          D 
              
----------- - 
117         u 
              
----------- - 
32            
              
----------- - 
109         m 
              
----------- - 
111         o 
              
----------- - 
110         n 
              
----------- - 
100         d 
              
----------- - 
101         e 
              
----------- - 
32            
              
----------- - 
101         e 
              
----------- - 
110         n 
              
----------- - 
116         t 
              
----------- - 
105         i 
              
----------- - 
101         e 
              
----------- - 
114         r

See Also