Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Converting Codes to Characters.
Computers store information internally using numeric values. The information we see on our screens, as characters, is nothing but a conversion of those numbers into the characters associated with those numbers. Excel includes a built-in worksheet function that allows you to convert numeric values into their associated characters, as follows:
=CHAR(A3)
This example function converts the numeric value at A3 to its corresponding character. The conversion is done using an extended ASCII character set. For instance, if A3 contained the value 65, then this function would return the capital letter A.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10425) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Converting Codes to Characters.
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2016-10-26 14:49:32
Willy Vanhaelen
@Robin
This formula will do if the numbers are always 3 digits:
=MID("XJVHMSCZBP",LEFT(A1,1)+1,1)
&MID("XJVHMSCZBP",MID(A1,2,1)+1,1)
&MID("XJVHMSCZBP",RIGHT(A1,1)+1,1)
If de numbers can have any number of digits you can only use a user defined function:
Function MyCode(R As Range)
Const S = "XJVHMSCZBP"
Dim X As Integer, Y As Integer
For X = 1 To Len(R)
Y = Mid(R, X, 1) + 1
MyCode = MyCode & Mid(S, Y, 1)
Next X
End Function
In either case if the numbers can start with one or more zeros you have to format those cells as text or start the entry with an apostrophe.
2016-10-25 11:55:41
Robin
What formula do I use in Excel to convert numbers into an alpha code, where 1=J, 2=V, 3=H, 4=M 5=S, 6=C, 7=Z, 8=B, 9=P and 0=X. For example, the number 152 would be JSV in my code.
2014-11-04 11:44:33
Glenn Case
Note that for VBA, the equivalent function is CHR()
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: 
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