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ASCII

The ASCII function in SQL returns the ASCII value for the first character of the specified string.

Syntax​

The syntax for the ASCII function in SQL is:

ASCII ( single_character_text )

Parameters​

  • single_character_text: This is the string that the ASCII value should be returned for. It should be a single character string.

Examples​

Let's consider a few examples to understand how to use the ASCII function.

To get the ASCII value of a character:

VALUES(ASCII('A'));

This will return 65, which is the ASCII value for 'A'.

Please note that the ASCII function expects a single character value. If a string with more than one character is passed, it will throw an error. For instance:

VALUES(ASCII('AB'));

This will throw an error because 'AB' contains more than one character.

You can also use the ASCII function in a SELECT statement. Consider the following table named 'Ascii':

idtext
1'F'
CREATE TABLE Ascii (
    id INTEGER,
    text TEXT
);
INSERT INTO Ascii VALUES (1, 'F');

You can select the ASCII value of the 'text' column:

SELECT ASCII(text) AS ascii FROM Ascii;

This will return 70, which is the ASCII value for 'F'.

The ASCII function can also take a string directly:

SELECT ASCII('a') AS ascii FROM Ascii;

This will return 97, which is the ASCII value for 'a'.

If a non-ASCII character is passed to the function, it will throw an error. For instance:

SELECT ASCII('ㄱ') AS ascii FROM Ascii;

This will throw an error because 'ㄱ' is not an ASCII character.

If no argument is passed to the ASCII function, it will also throw an error:

SELECT ASCII() AS ascii FROM Ascii;

This will throw an error because the ASCII function expects one argument.

Remember, the ASCII function expects a single character. If the column value contains more than one character, it will throw an error:

INSERT INTO Ascii VALUES (1, 'Foo');
SELECT ASCII(text) AS ascii FROM Ascii;

This will throw an error because 'Foo' contains more than one character.