CHAR Function
Generates the Unicode character corresponding to an inputted Integer value.
Unicode is a digital standard for the consistent encoding of the world's writing systems, so that representation of character sets is consistent around the world.
The first 256 Unicode characters (0, 255) correspond to the ASCII character set.
Input values for the
CHARfunction should be of integer type.Decimal type column data can be used as input. However, if the data contains digits to the right of the decimal point, theCHARfunction returns a missing value.If the function cannot evaluate the numeric data, a null value is returned.
Wrangle vs. SQL: This function is part of Wrangle, a proprietary data transformation language. Wrangle is not SQL. For more information, see Wrangle Language.
Basic Usage
Column reference example:
char(MyCharIndex)
Output: Returns the Unicode value for the number in the MyCharIndex column.
String literal example:
char(65)
Output: Returns the string: A.
Syntax and Arguments
char(index_value)
Argument | Required? | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
index_value | Y | integer (positive) | Unicode index value of the character |
For more information on syntax standards, see Language Documentation Syntax Notes.
index_value
Unicode index value of the character to generate or match.
The Unicode character set contains up 1,114,112 characters. Most uses rely on the first 10,000 characters.
Value must be less than
end_index.
Usage Notes:
Required? | Data Type | Example Value |
|---|---|---|
Yes | Integer (non-negative) | 65 |
Examples
Tip
For additional examples, see Common Tasks.
Example - char and unicode functions
In this example, you can see how the CHAR function can be used to convert numeric index values to Unicode characters, and the UNICODE function can be used to convert characters back to numeric values.
Functions:
Item | Description |
|---|---|
CHAR Function | Generates the Unicode character corresponding to an inputted Integer value. |
UNICODE Function | Generates the Unicode index value for the first character of the input string. |
Source:
The following column contains some source index values:
index |
|---|
1 |
33 |
33.5 |
34 |
48 |
57 |
65 |
90 |
97 |
121 |
254 |
255 |
256 |
257 |
9998 |
9999 |
Transformation:
When the above values are imported to the Transformer page, the column is typed as integer, with a single mismatched value (33.5). To see the corresponding Unicode characters for these characters, enter the following transformation:
Transformation Name |
|
|---|---|
Parameter: Formula type | Single row formula |
Parameter: Formula | CHAR(index) |
Parameter: New column name | 'char_index' |
To see how these characters map back to the index values, now add the following transformation:
Transformation Name |
|
|---|---|
Parameter: Formula type | Single row formula |
Parameter: Formula | UNICODE(char_index) |
Parameter: New column name | 'unicode_char_index' |
Results:
index | char_index | unicode_char_index |
|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | |
33 | ! | 33 |
33.5 | ||
34 | " | 34 |
48 | 0 | 48 |
57 | 9 | 57 |
65 | A | 65 |
90 | Z | 90 |
97 | a | 97 |
122 | z | 122 |
254 | þ | 254 |
255 | ÿ | 255 |
256 | Ā | 256 |
257 | ā | 257 |
9998 | 9998 | |
9999 | 9999 |
Note that the floating point input value was not processed.