Interview Question of the Week #055 – How to Convert ASCII to DECIMAL or DECIMAL to ASCII?

January 24, 2016

SQL, SQL Interview Questions and Answers, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks

Question: How do you convert ASCII to DECIMAL or DECIMAL to ASCII?

Answer:

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

CHAR – Fixed-length non-Unicode character data with length of n bytes.

Examples:
--Decimal to ASCII SELECT CHAR(80)+CHAR(73)+CHAR(78)+CHAR(65)+CHAR(76) ASSQLAuthorityAuthor GO
--ASCII to Decimal SELECT ASCII('P') AS SQLAuthorityAuthor UNION ALL SELECT ASCII('I') UNION ALL SELECT ASCII('N') UNION ALL SELECT ASCII('A') UNION ALL SELECT ASCII('L') GO

Reference : Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)

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4 Comments. Leave new

Nils
January 25, 2016 6:35 pm
If someone asked me this question, I would have explained cast and convert.
Reply
Sri Varshan
January 28, 2016 12:26 am
Though ASCII has been around from 2005 many aren’t aware of it. This helps experienced guys to recap and newbies to learn. Keep them coming, thanks for sharing
Reply
Jeff Moden
October 28, 2016 7:59 am
@Sri Varchan,
The ASCII() function has been around for a whole lot longer than just 2005.
Reply
Jeff Moden
October 28, 2016 8:01 am
@Pinal Dave,
You have the wrong definition for CHAR() posted. You have the one for the CHAR() datatype. You want the one for the CHAR(integer) function. See the following link.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/functions/char-transact-sql?view=sql-server-2017
Reply