In this article
ASC converts full-width (double-byte) letters and katakana to half-width. In English text there is nothing to convert, so text comes back unchanged.
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Syntax
=ASC(text)| Argument | What it means |
|---|---|
text |
Text to work on |
Examples
Example 1
=ASC(A2)Result: Excel. See the worked example table below for more cases.
ASC in practice
Where you will use it
- Japanese, Chinese or Korean data
- Fixed-width files measured in bytes
- Cleaning full-width characters from imported forms
Worked example
| Text | Formula | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Excel | =ASC(A2) | Excel |
| ＡＢＣ | =ASC(A3) | ＡＢＣ |
| 123 | =ASC(A4) | 123 |
Results calculated in Excel. Calculated on an English Excel without a double-byte language: ASC left the full-width ＡＢＣ unchanged here. With Japanese, Chinese or Korean enabled it converts it to ABC.
Mistakes people make
| Mistake | What to do instead |
|---|---|
| Expecting different results in English | In single-byte setups the B versions match LEFT, LEN, etc. |
| Mixed-width data | Normalise with ASC first |
Related functions
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