Converting chars to ASCII in C#

Hi guys,

I'm converting an old VB application into C#, and part of the system requires me to convert certain special characters to their ASCII equivalent.

In VB, the code is:

sValue = Asc("œ")  'which gives 156

sValue = Asc("°")  'which gives 176

sValue = Asc("£")  'which gives 163

These are the correct values according to http://www.ascii-code.com/.


But when doing the same conversion in C#, the first of these values gives a strange answer.

Here is the code:

As ints:

int i1 = (int)Convert.ToChar("œ");    // which gives 339

int i2 = (int)Convert.ToChar("°");    // which gives 176

int i3 = (int)Convert.ToChar("£");    // which gives 163


As bytes:

byte i1 = (byte)Convert.ToChar("œ");    // which gives 83

byte i2 = (byte)Convert.ToChar("°");    // which gives 176

byte i3 = (byte)Convert.ToChar("£");    // which gives 163

What gives?! :( I'm suspecting it's something to do with the sign bit, but I can't see what.

Many thanks

Tags: C#, Visual Basic