MS Excel: UNICODE function to get unicode of any character

The UNICODE function in Excel returns the numeric Unicode code point of the first character in a text string. It’s the counterpart of the UNICHAR function, which does the reverse (i.e., returns a character based on a Unicode number).

This function is helpful when working with multilingual data, special characters, or ensuring encoding accuracy when preparing data for systems that rely on Unicode (e.g., APIs, databases, web exports).

Syntax

=UNICODE(text)

Parameters:

Argument	Description
text	Required. A text string whose first character’s Unicode number will be returned.

Returns: The Unicode code point of the first character in the text string as a number.

Examples

Text (A column)	Formula	Result	Explanation
A	=UNICODE(A2)	65	Unicode value for "A"
$	=UNICODE(A3)	36	Dollar symbol
€	=UNICODE(A4)	8364	Euro sign
😊	=UNICODE(A5)	128522	Smiling face emoji
™	=UNICODE(A6)	8482	Trademark symbol
中	=UNICODE(A7)	20013	Chinese character "middle"

Use Cases

Scenario	How UNICODE Helps
Character validation	Check for hidden symbols or invisible chars
Data cleaning	Detect and filter out unwanted characters
Multilingual support	Handle various character sets in your data
Debugging encoding errors	Identify problematic Unicode characters
Character mapping	Convert between characters and codes

Pro Tip

Use UNICODE together with MID, LEN, or TEXTJOIN to analyze multiple characters in a string:

=UNICODE(MID(A2,2,1))

This gets the Unicode of the second character in the string in cell A2.

Related Functions

Function	Description
UNICHAR	Returns a character based on a Unicode number
CHAR	Returns a character based on ASCII code (0–255 only)
CODE	Returns ASCII code for the first character
TEXT	Converts numbers and dates to formatted text

Summary

Feature	Description
Function Name	UNICODE
Purpose	Returns the Unicode code of a character
Returns	Numeric Unicode value
Best For	Character validation and encoding tasks
Excel Availability	Excel 2013 and later

Final Thoughts

The UNICODE function is essential for handling complex text data in modern spreadsheets. Whether you're working with emojis, foreign scripts, or special formatting symbols, UNICODE helps you decode what’s really inside your cells—especially when things don’t look quite right.