How to use the CODE function

What is the CODE function?
The CODE function returns a numeric code for the first character of the text argument, determined by your computer's character set.

What is my computers character set?
A character set is a collection of characters that can be represented by a computer. Different operating systems use different character sets, such as ANSI for Windows and Macintosh for Mac OS.

What is the difference between ANSI and ASCII?
ANSI stands for American National Standards Institute and ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. ANSI and ASCII are two different character encoding standards, the difference between them is that ANSI uses 8 bits per character, while ASCII uses 7 bits per character. This means that ANSI can support up to 256 different characters and ASCII can only support up to 128 different characters.

How can 7 bits represent 128 characters?
7 bits means 7 binary number or positions, the binary system has two possible values 0 (zero) and 1. 2⁷ = 128 possible combinations, each can be assigned to a different character. Every character in the ASCII encoding standard has a unique 7-bit representation.

How can 8 bits represent 256 characters?
8 bits means 8 binary number or positions, the binary system has two possible numbers 0 (zero) and 1. 2⁸ = 256 possible combinations, each can be assigned to a different character. Every character in the ANSI encoding has a unique 8-bit representation.

How many different characters can the CODE function handle?
The ANSI range in windows is between 0 to 255 so 256 different characters, however, the CODE function only converts the first character in a value. The remaining characters are left out.
If you want to get the code for a character that is not in the ANSI range (0-255), you can use the UNICODE function instead.

What is Unicode?
Both ANSI and ASCII encodings have been replaced by Unicode that defines a universal character set including almost all characters in the world. Excel has two functions if you want to work with Unicode characters: UNICODE function and UNICHAR function.

Windows	ANSI
Macintosh	Macintosh character set

1. CODE Function Syntax

The CODE function has only one argument. If the text argument is longer than one character then only the first character is converted in to ANSI code.

CODE(text)

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2. CODE Function Arguments

text	Required. The character for which you want the corresponding code.

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3. CODE Function example

The image above demonstrates the CODE function in cell D3, the CODE function argument is a cell reference pointing to cell B3.

Formula in cell D3:

Cell B3 contains only one character which is the A. The corresponding code for letter A is 65 which is displayed in cell D3.

3.1 Explaining formula

CODE(B3)

becomes

CODE("A")

and returns 65.

A to Z corresponds to numbers 65 to 90. a to z corresponds to numbers 97 to 122.

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4. How to convert a value to ANSI numbers - CODE Function

This example shows how to convert each character in a value to ANSI code using the CODE function in Excel. Cell B3 contains "Hello!" without the double quotes.

The following formula is useful if you want to see hidden characters or compare two different values that seems to be the same but are not.

Formula in cell D3:

The formula splits the text string in to an array of characters, each container has one character. The formula then converts the characters to ANSI code and finally joins them using a single delimiting character, in this example , (comma).

Cell D3 displays the result, string "Hello!" has these ANSI code values: 72, 101, 108, 108, 111, and 33.

Explaining formula

Step 1 - Count characters in cell

The LEN function returns the number of characters in a cell value.

LEN(value)

LEN(B3)

becomes

LEN("Hello!")

and returns 6. There are six characters in cell B3.

Step 2 - Create numbers from 1 to n

The SEQUENCE function creates a list of sequential numbers.

SEQUENCE(rows, [columns], [start], [step])

SEQUENCE(,LEN(B3))

becomes

SEQUENCE(,6)

and returns {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}.

Step 3 - Split characters in cell

The MID function returns a substring from a string based on the starting position and the number of characters you want to extract.

MID(text, start_num, num_chars)

MID(B3,SEQUENCE(,LEN(B3)),1)

becomes

MID("Hello!",{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6},1)

and returns {"H","e","l","l","o","!"}.

Step 4 - Convert characters to numbers

CODE(MID(B3,SEQUENCE(,LEN(B3)),1))

becomes

CODE({"H","e","l","l","o","!"})

and returns {72,101,108,108,111,33}.

Step 5 - Join strings

The TEXTJOIN function allows you to combine text strings from multiple cell ranges and also use delimiting characters.

TEXTJOIN(delimiter, ignore_empty, text1, [text2], ...)

TEXTJOIN(",",TRUE,CODE(MID(B3,SEQUENCE(,LEN(B3)),1)))

becomes

TEXTJOIN(",",TRUE,{72,101,108,108,111,33})

and returns

"72,101,108,108,111,33".

This example shows two values in cells B3 and B6, they seem identical but are not. The value in cell B6 has a new line character between "o" and "!", you can create this character in a cell by pressing Alt + Enter, however, to use it in a formula you ned the CHAR functtion.

For example, to buildd the value in cell B6 with a formula you can do like this:

="Hello"&CHAR(10)&"!"

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5. List all characters based on ANSI numbers - CODE Function

The image above shows upper and lower letters in the ANSI encoding set and their corresponding number, here is the formula in cell B2:

The formula spills the values to cells below and to the right as far as needed automatically in Excel 365.

Explaining formula

Step 1 - Create numbers from 65 to 90

The SEQUENCE function creates a list of sequential numbers.

SEQUENCE(rows, [columns], [start], [step])

SEQUENCE(26, , 65)

returns {65;66;67; ... ; 90}

Step 2 - Create characters

The CHAR function converts a number to the corresponding ANSI character determined by your computers character set.

CHAR(number)

CHAR(SEQUENCE(26, , 65))

becomes

CHAR({65;66;67; ... ; 90})

and returns {"A";"B";"C"; ... ; "Z"}

Step 3 - Join arrays horizontally

The HSTACK function lets you combine cell ranges or arrays, it joins data to the first blank cell to the right of a cell range or array (horizontal stacking)

HSTACK(array1,[array2],...)

HSTACK(CHAR(SEQUENCE(26, , 65)), SEQUENCE(26, , 65), CHAR(SEQUENCE(26, , 97)), SEQUENCE(26, , 97))

becomes

HSTACK({"A";"B";"C"; ... ; "Z"}, {65;66;67; ... ; 90}, {"a";"b";"c"; ... ; "z"}, {97;98;99; ... ; 122})

and returns

{"A",65,"a",97;"B", ... , "z",122}

Step 4 - Add column headers

The VSTACK function lets you combine cell ranges or arrays, it joins data to the first blank cell at the bottom of a cell range or array.

VSTACK(array1,[array2],...)

VSTACK({"Upper", "Code", "Lower", "Code"}, HSTACK(CHAR(SEQUENCE(26, , 65)), SEQUENCE(26, , 65), CHAR(SEQUENCE(26, , 97)), SEQUENCE(26, , 97)))

becomes

VSTACK({"Upper", "Code", "Lower", "Code"}, {"A",65,"a",97;"B", ... , "z",122})

and returns

"Upper","Code","Lower","Code";"A",65, ... ,"z",122}.

The table below shows all characters in the ANSI encoding set.

1		33	!	65	A	97	129		161	193	Á	225	á
2		34	"	66	B	98	130	‚	162	194	Â	226	â
3		35	#	67	C	99	131	ƒ	163	195	Ã	227	ã
4		36	$	68	D	100	132	„	164	196	Ä	228	ä
5		37	%	69	E	101	133	…	165	197	Å	229	å
6		38	&	70	F	102	134	†	166	198	Æ	230	æ
7		39	'	71	G	103	135	‡	167	199	Ç	231	ç
8		40	(	72	H	104	136	ˆ	168	200	È	232	è
9		41	)	73	I	105	137	‰	169	201	É	233	é
10		42	*	74	J	106	138	Š	170	202	Ê	234	ê
11		43	+	75	K	107	139	‹	171	203	Ë	235	ë
12		44	,	76	L	108	140	Œ	172	204	Ì	236	ì
13		45	-	77	M	109	141		173	205	Í	237	í
14		46	.	78	N	110	142	Ž	174	206	Î	238	î
15		47	/	79	O	111	143		175	207	Ï	239	ï
16		48	0	80	P	112	144		176	208	Ð	240	ð
17		49	1	81	Q	113	145	‘	177	209	Ñ	241	ñ
18		50	2	82	R	114	146	’	178	210	Ò	242	ò
19		51	3	83	S	115	147	“	179	211	Ó	243	ó
20		52	4	84	T	116	148	”	180	212	Ô	244	ô
21		53	5	85	U	117	149	•	181	213	Õ	245	õ
22		54	6	86	V	118	150	–	182	214	Ö	246	ö
23		55	7	87	W	119	151	—	183	215	×	247	÷
24		56	8	88	X	120	152	˜	184	216	Ø	248	ø
25		57	9	89	Y	121	153	™	185	217	Ù	249	ù
26		58	:	90	Z	122	154	š	186	218	Ú	250	ú
27		59	;	91	[	123	155	›	187	219	Û	251	û
28		60	<	92	\	124	156	œ	188	220	Ü	252	ü
29		61	=	93	]	125	157		189	221	Ý	253	ý
30		62	>	94	^	126	158	ž	190	222	Þ	254	þ
31		63	?	95	_	127	159	Ÿ	191	223	ß	255	ÿ
32		64	@	96	`	128	160		192	224	à	256

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6. CODE function returns #VALUE! error

The CODE function returns a #VALUE! error if the cell is empty.

Formula in cell D3:

Explaining formula

CODE(B3)

becomes

CODE("")

and returns #VALUE! error.

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Useful resources

CODE function - Microsoft support
Excel CODE and CHAR Function Examples

'CODE' function examples

Functions in 'Text' category

The CODE function function is one of 29 functions in the 'Text' category.

Excel function categories

Excel categories

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