ChrW Function

Returns a String containing the Unicode character associated with the specified character code. The "W" suffix indicates this is the wide (Unicode) version of the Chr function.

Syntax

ChrW(charcode)

Parameters

• charcode: Required. Long. A numeric expression that identifies a Unicode character. Valid values are -32768 to 65535. However, values -32768 to -1 are treated as 65536 + value.

Returns

Returns a String containing a single Unicode character corresponding to the specified code.

Remarks

• ChrW is used to return Unicode characters (wide characters).
• The W suffix stands for "Wide", distinguishing it from the ANSI ChrB function.
• Valid Unicode code points range from 0 to 65535 (0x0000 to 0xFFFF) in the Basic Multilingual Plane.
• Negative values from -32768 to -1 are converted by adding 65536, allowing access to the full range.
• ChrW is essential for working with international characters, symbols, and emoji within the BMP.
• For ANSI characters (0-255), ChrW and Chr produce the same results on systems using single-byte character sets.
• Characters outside the Basic Multilingual Plane (above 65535) require surrogate pairs in VB6.
• If charcode is outside the valid range, a runtime error occurs (Error 5: Invalid procedure call or argument).

Typical Uses

1. International text support - Create strings with characters from various languages
2. Unicode symbol insertion - Insert mathematical symbols, currency symbols, arrows, etc.
3. XML/HTML entity handling - Convert numeric character references to actual characters
4. Special character creation - Generate Unicode control characters and formatting marks
5. Cross-platform text - Ensure consistent character representation across different systems
6. Unicode file processing - Read and write Unicode text files correctly
7. Internationalization (i18n) - Support multiple languages in applications

Basic Examples

' Example 1: Simple Unicode character
Dim ch As String
ch = ChrW(65)  ' Returns "A" (same as Chr for ASCII range)

' Example 2: Euro symbol
Dim euro As String
euro = ChrW(8364)  ' Returns "€"

' Example 3: Greek letter
Dim alpha As String
alpha = ChrW(945)  ' Returns "α" (Greek small letter alpha)

' Example 4: Chinese character
Dim hanzi As String
hanzi = ChrW(20013)  ' Returns "中" (Chinese character for "middle")

Common Patterns

Unicode Line Separator

Const UNICODE_LINE_SEP = 8232
text = "Line 1" & ChrW(UNICODE_LINE_SEP) & "Line 2"

Bullet Point List

Dim bullet As String
bullet = ChrW(8226)  ' "•"
list = bullet & " Item 1" & vbCrLf & bullet & " Item 2"

Copyright Symbol

Dim copyright As String
copyright = ChrW(169)  ' "©"
notice = "Copyright " & copyright & " 2025"

Mathematical Symbols

Dim infinity As String, pi As String
infinity = ChrW(8734)  ' "∞"
pi = ChrW(960)  ' "π"
equation = pi & " " & ChrW(8776) & " 3.14"  ' "π ≈ 3.14"

Arrow Symbols

Dim rightArrow As String
rightArrow = ChrW(8594)  ' "→"
leftArrow = ChrW(8592)   ' "←"

Non-Breaking Space

Dim nbsp As String
nbsp = ChrW(160)  ' Non-breaking space
text = "Price:" & nbsp & "$100"

Emoji and Symbols (BMP only)

Dim heart As String, star As String
heart = ChrW(9829)  ' "♥"
star = ChrW(9733)   ' "★"

Zero-Width Characters

Dim zwj As String
zwj = ChrW(8205)  ' Zero-width joiner

Currency Symbols

Dim pound As String, yen As String
pound = ChrW(163)  ' "£"
yen = ChrW(165)    ' "¥"

Diacritical Marks

Dim acute As String
acute = ChrW(180)  ' "´" (acute accent)
combined = "e" & ChrW(769)  ' Combining acute accent

Advanced Examples

Building Multilingual Text

Function GetGreeting(language As String) As String
    Select Case language
        Case "chinese"
            GetGreeting = ChrW(20320) & ChrW(22909)  ' "你好"
        Case "japanese"
            GetGreeting = ChrW(12371) & ChrW(12435) & ChrW(12395) & ChrW(12385) & ChrW(12399)  ' "こんにちは"
        Case "korean"
            GetGreeting = ChrW(50504) & ChrW(45397) & ChrW(54616) & ChrW(49464) & ChrW(50836)  ' "안녕하세요"
        Case "russian"
            GetGreeting = ChrW(1055) & ChrW(1088) & ChrW(1080) & ChrW(1074) & ChrW(1077) & ChrW(1090)  ' "Привет"
        Case Else
            GetGreeting = "Hello"
    End Select
End Function

HTML Entity Decoder

Function DecodeNumericEntity(entity As String) As String
    ' Decode &#nnnn; or &#xhhhh; entities
    Dim code As Long
    If InStr(entity, "&#x") > 0 Then
        ' Hexadecimal entity
        code = CLng("&H" & Mid(entity, 4, Len(entity) - 4))
    ElseIf InStr(entity, "&#") > 0 Then
        ' Decimal entity
        code = CLng(Mid(entity, 3, Len(entity) - 3))
    End If
    If code >= 0 And code <= 65535 Then
        DecodeNumericEntity = ChrW(code)
    End If
End Function

Unicode Range Validator

Function IsInUnicodeRange(char As String, rangeStart As Long, rangeEnd As Long) As Boolean
    If Len(char) = 0 Then Exit Function
    Dim code As Long
    code = AscW(char)
    IsInUnicodeRange = (code >= rangeStart And code <= rangeEnd)
End Function
' Example usage:
' If IsInUnicodeRange(char, 0x4E00, 0x9FFF) Then
'     Debug.Print "CJK Unified Ideograph"
' End If

Unicode Text File Writer

Sub WriteUnicodeFile(filename As String, text As String)
    Dim fso As Object, stream As Object
    Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    Set stream = CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")
    stream.Type = 2  ' Text
    stream.Charset = "UTF-8"
    stream.Open
    ' Add BOM for UTF-8
    stream.WriteText ChrW(65279)  ' UTF-8 BOM
    stream.WriteText text
    stream.SaveToFile filename, 2
    stream.Close
End Sub

Error Handling

Function SafeChrW(charcode As Long) As String
    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    ' Normalize negative values
    If charcode < 0 Then
        charcode = 65536 + charcode
    End If
    If charcode >= 0 And charcode <= 65535 Then
        SafeChrW = ChrW(charcode)
    Else
        SafeChrW = "?"  ' Replacement character for invalid codes
    End If
    Exit Function
ErrorHandler:
    SafeChrW = "?"
End Function

Performance Notes

• ChrW is a fast operation with minimal overhead
• When building long Unicode strings, use string concatenation efficiently or a StringBuilder pattern
• For repeated character creation, consider caching the result
• AscW is the inverse function of ChrW

Best Practices

1. Use ChrW for Unicode - Always use ChrW instead of Chr when working with international text
2. Validate ranges - Check that character codes are within valid Unicode ranges
3. Handle errors - Wrap ChrW calls in error handlers when processing user input
4. Document character codes - Use constants or comments to explain non-obvious character codes
5. Test with actual data - Verify Unicode text displays correctly in target environments
6. Consider normalization - Be aware that some characters can be represented multiple ways
7. Use UTF-8 for files - When saving Unicode text, prefer UTF-8 encoding

Comparison with Related Functions

Unicode Ranges Reference

Some common Unicode ranges that work with ChrW: - Basic Latin: 0-127 (ASCII) - Latin-1 Supplement: 128-255 - Greek and Coptic: 880-1023 - Cyrillic: 1024-1279 - Hebrew: 1424-1535 - Arabic: 1536-1791 - CJK Unified Ideographs: 19968-40959 - Hangul Syllables: 44032-55203 - Currency Symbols: 8352-8399 - Mathematical Operators: 8704-8959 - Arrows: 8592-8703 - Box Drawing: 9472-9599

Platform Notes

• VB6 supports Unicode through ChrW but stores strings internally in the system's native format
• On Windows NT-based systems, strings are stored as Unicode (UTF-16)
• On Windows 95/98/ME, strings use ANSI encoding, which may cause issues with characters outside the current code page
• When running on older systems, test thoroughly with non-ASCII characters
• Modern Windows systems (XP and later) handle Unicode properly

Limitations

• ChrW only supports the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP), code points 0-65535
• Characters outside the BMP (like some emoji) require surrogate pairs in VB6
• Surrogate pairs are complex and require combining two ChrW calls
• Not all fonts support all Unicode characters; display depends on available fonts
• Some Unicode features like combining characters may not render correctly in all VB6 controls