CHAR

Quirk found

Category: Text · Last tested 2026-08-06

Real, executed compatibility results for the CHAR function across Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice Calc — verified by actually running it. Syntax and links to each vendor’s official documentation are below.

Support matrix

Engine	Documented	Live-tested	Verdict
Excel	Yes	Not yet	n/a
Google Sheets	Yes	Not yet	n/a
LibreOffice Calc	Yes	Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-08-06)	Quirk found

LibreOffice version history

We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when CHAR’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.

LibreOffice version	Verdict	Tested
24.2.0.3	Quirk found	2026-07-19
24.8.7.2	Quirk found	2026-07-19
25.2.0.3	Quirk found	2026-07-24
25.8.7.3	Quirk found	2026-08-06

Why isn't CHAR working in LibreOffice?

CHAR exists in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3, but it is not a drop-in match for Excel — our executed tests found real behavioral differences (detailed in the test results on this page). If a formula that works in Excel or Google Sheets misbehaves in LibreOffice, compare your usage against the failing cases above before assuming your data is wrong.

Discovered quirks

=CHAR(0) on LibreOffice Calc returned _x0000_, but the documented/expected result is #VALUE!. Microsoft docs: CHAR takes "A number between 1 and 255 specifying which character you want." Source: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/char-function-bbd249c8-b36e-4a91-8017-1c133f9b837a; MISMATCH vs expected: expected '#VALUE!', got '_x0000_'

Executed test cases

LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-08-06)

Formula	Description	Result	Expected	Verdict
=CHAR(65)	Basic code-to-character lookup	A	A	Matched
=CHAR(97)	Lowercase letter lookup	a	a	Matched
=CHAR(0)	0 is outside CHAR's documented valid range of 1-255 -> #VALUE!	_x0000_	#VALUE! Microsoft docs: CHAR takes "A number between 1 and 255 specifying which character you want." Source: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/char-function-bbd249c8-b36e-4a91-8017-1c133f9b837a	Mismatch
=CHAR(256)	256 is above CHAR's documented valid range of 1-255 -> #VALUE!	#VALUE!	#VALUE! Source: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/char-function-bbd249c8-b36e-4a91-8017-1c133f9b837a - valid range is 1-255; values outside it are invalid	Matched