JavaScript (ES2026) reference · String Methods

JavaScript String charCodeAt() Method

Return the UTF-16 code unit (0 to 65535) at an index. For emoji and other astral characters use codePointAt().

JavaScript (ES2026) Since ES1

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Syntax

string.charCodeAt(index)

Parameter	Description
`index` optional	Position from 0. Default: `0`

A number, or NaN if the index is out of range.

Character codesTry it yourself

console.log("A".charCodeAt(0), "a".charCodeAt(0), "€".charCodeAt(0));

Output

65 97 8364

Emoji take two code unitsTry it yourself

const smile = "\u{1F600}";
console.log(smile.length, smile.charCodeAt(0), smile.codePointAt(0));

Output

2 55357 128512

Version	Change
JavaScript ES1	Added

string.codePointAt() · Return the full Unicode code point at an index, correctly handling emoji and other characters outside the BMP.
String.fromCharCode() · Create a string from UTF-16 code units, for example String.fromCharCode(72, 105) gives "Hi".
JavaScript Strings · tutorial
JavaScript String Methods · tutorial