Char Data Type

Holds unsigned 32-bit (4-byte) Unicode character code points in the range 0–4,294,967,295.

Instructions

Char is short for “character”.

Default value
When you declare a variable of type Char and do not initialize it, its default value is the character with a code point of zero (0).
Negation
Char is an unsigned type and thus cannot hold a negative value.
Automatic conversions
Char widens to String or SafeString without risk of overflow.
Type characters
Char has no type character.

Unicode characters

TODO

Character literal

You can give a code point for most Unicode characters directly in your code with a character literal. You write a character literal with the character between backticks (`). Some examples follow.

Dim letter As Char = `A`
Const backtick As Char = ```

Shared methods and properties

Char.Default As Char
Returns %NUL.
Char.Lower(c As Char, Optional #fmt As Format) As Char
Returns a lower-case letter if given an upper-case letter, or the given character if it is not a letter.
Char.Size As Int32
Returns the number of available bytes. This is always 4.
Char.Upper(c As Char, Optional #fmt As Format) As Char
Returns an upper-case letter if given a lower-case letter, or the given character if it is not a letter.

The methods that follow have three overloads each: (1) a character (chr As Char), (2) a string (str As String), or (3) a safe string (str As SafeString). For string types, each method gets the initial character of the given string. But if the string is empty, the method raises an exception TBD.

Char.IsControl(chr As Char) As Boolean
Char.IsControl(str As String) As Boolean
Char.IsControl(str As SafeString) As Boolean
Returns true if given a control character, and false if given a different character.
Char.IsDigit(chr As Char) As Boolean
Char.IsDigit(str As String) As Boolean
Char.IsDigit(str As SafeString) As Boolean
Returns true if given a number between 0 and 9, and false if given a different character.
See also IsNumber.
Char.IsLetter(chr As Char) As Boolean
Char.IsLetter(str As String) As Boolean
Char.IsLetter(str As SafeString) As Boolean
Returns true if given a letter, and false if given a different character.
Char.IsLower(chr As Char) As Boolean
Char.IsLower(str As String) As Boolean
Char.IsLower(str As SafeString) As Boolean
Returns true if given a lower-case letter, and false if given a different character.
See also IsUpper.
Char.IsNumber(chr As Char) As Boolean
Char.IsNumber(str As String) As Boolean
Char.IsNumber(str As SafeString) As Boolean
Returns true if given a number or related character, and false if given a different character.
See also IsDigit.
Char.IsPunctuation(chr As Char) As Boolean
Char.IsPunctuation(str As String) As Boolean
Char.IsPunctuation(str As SafeString) As Boolean
Returns true if given a punctuation character, and false if given a different character.
Char.IsSeparator(chr As Char) As Boolean
Char.IsSeparator(str As String) As Boolean
Char.IsSeparator(str As SafeString) As Boolean
Returns true if given a separator character, and false if given a different character.
See also IsWhitespace.
Char.IsSymbol(chr As Char) As Boolean
Char.IsSymbol(str As String) As Boolean
Char.IsSymbol(str As SafeString) As Boolean
Returns true if given a symbol character, and false if given a different character.
Char.IsUpper(chr As Char) As Boolean
Char.IsUpper(str As String) As Boolean
Char.IsUpper(str As SafeString) As Boolean
Returns true if given an upper-case letter, and false if given a different character.
See also IsLower.
Char.IsWhitespace(chr As Char) As Boolean
Char.IsWhitespace(str As String) As Boolean
Char.IsWhitespace(str As SafeString) As Boolean
Returns true if given a whitespace character, and false if given a different character.
See also IsSeparator.
Char.UnicodeBlock(chr As Char) As UnicodeBlocks
Char.UnicodeBlock(str As String) As UnicodeBlocks
Char.UnicodeBlock(str As SafeString) As UnicodeBlocks
Returns an enumeration value of type UnicodeBlocks that is related to the Unicode block of the given character.

See also