A to Z of Excel Functions: The ASC Function

Welcome back to our regular A to Z of Excel Functions blog.  Today we look at the ASC function.

The ASC function

For double-byte character set (DBCS) languages, the ASC function changes full-width (double-byte) characters (katakana) to half-width (single-byte) characters.

The ASC function employs the following syntax to operate:

The ASC function has the following argument only:

• text: this is required.  The text or a reference to a cell that contains the text you want to change.  If text does not contain any full-width letters, text is not changed.

The opposite function, converting half-width (single-byte) characters to full-width (double-byte) characters (katakana), is the WIDECHAR(text) function.  Our regular blog series will probably get to this function about 14 years from now...

Please see my examples below:

We’ll continue our A to Z of Excel Functions soon.  Keep checking back – there’s a new blog post every other business day.