CHAR

The CHAR function returns the ASCII character specified by the expression.

 

COMMAND SYNTAX

CHAR(expression)

 

SYNTAX ELEMENTS

The expression must evaluate to a numeric argument in the range 0-255. This is the entire range of the ASCII character set.

 

INTERNATIONAL MODE

The CHAR function will return Unicode values encoded as UTF-8 byte sequences as follows:

Expression values 0 – 127 return UTF-8 single byte characters equivalent to ASCII.

Expression values 127 – 248 return UTF-8 double byte character sequences.

Expression values 249 – 255 return system delimiters 0xf8 – 0xff

Expression values > 255 return UTF-8 multi byte character sequences

When system delimiter values are not specifically required, generate UTF-8 byte sequences using the UTF8 function. i.e. X = UTF8(@AM) will generate a UTF-8 byte sequence in variable X for the system delimiter equating to Unicode value 0x000000fe.

 

NOTES

jBC variables can contain any of the ASCII characters 0-255, thus there are no restrictions on this function.

This function is often used to insert field delimiters within a variable or string. These are commonly equated to AM, VM, SV in a program.

See also CHARS().

 

EXAMPLES

EQUATE AM TO CHAR(254) ;* field Mark
EQUATE VM TO CHAR(253) ;* value Mark
EQUATE SV TO CHAR(252) ;* sub Value mark

CRT CHAR(7): ;* ring the bell

jBC