Python does not have a “char” data type, unlike other languages. But characters are just strings of length 1.

When converting a character to an integer, the character should be a Unicode/ASCII code point (e.g., ‘A’ → 65)or a digit (e.g., ‘5’ → 5). Each scenarios require a different approach.

Here are two ways:

1. ord(): It is used to get the ASCII value of a character.
2. int(): It is used when a character is a digit.

Method 1: Using the ord()

If your input is any character (e.g., ‘A’, ‘z’, ‘$’), convert it to its ASCII or Unicode code point using the ord() function.

# For ASCII value
char = "K"

print(ord(char))

# Output: 75

Checking if it is case-sensitive

The ASCII value of capital K is 75, but the small k’s value is different. So, it is case-sensitive.

charData = "k"

print(ord(charData))

# Output: 107

TypeError: ord() expected a character

There is one catch with the ord() method: if the input is a multi-character string (e.g., ‘AB’), it will raise a TypeError: ord() expected a character.

char = 'AB'

ascii_value = ord(char)

print(ascii_value)

# Output: TypeError: ord() expected a character, but string of length 2 found

To handle the potential error, you can use the try/except mechanism.

try:
    char = 'AB'
    if len(char) == 1:
        ascii_value = ord(char)
        print(ascii_value)
    else:
        raise ValueError("Expected a single character.")
except TypeError:
    print("Invalid input: ord() expects a single character.")
except ValueError as e:
    print(e)

# Output: Expected a single character.

Empty character

If an input is an empty character, it will also raise a TypeError.

char = ''

ascii_value = ord(char)

print(ascii_value)

# Output: TypeError: ord() expected a character, but string of length 0 found

Method 2: Using int()

When your input character represents a digit (like ’21’), and you want the numeric value 21, use the built-in int() method.

# For digit value

digit_char = '2'

print(int(digit_char))

# Output: 2

This approach is ideal for single-digit characters (‘0’ to ‘9’).

ValueError: invalid literal for int()

If the input variable is non-digit characters (e.g., ‘a’), it will throw a ValueError.

# For digit value

digit_char = 'a'

print(int(digit_char))

# Output: ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: 'a'

Empty strings

If your input is an empty string, it will return a ValueError, too.

empty_char = ''

print(int(empty_char))

# Output: ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''

Best practice

You should use the .isdigit() method before converting to avoid potential error.

c = '5'

if c.isdigit():
    print(int(c))
else:
    print("Not a digit")

# Output: 5

That’s it!