ASCII Value Finder - Problem

Write a program that takes a character as input and displays its ASCII value. The program should also be able to take an ASCII value and display the corresponding character.

Your task is to implement a solution that can handle both conversions:

Given a character, find its ASCII value
Given an ASCII value, find the corresponding character

The input will specify which operation to perform using a mode parameter:

If mode is "char_to_ascii", convert the character to its ASCII value
If mode is "ascii_to_char", convert the ASCII value to its character

Input & Output

Example 1 — Character to ASCII

$ Input: mode = "char_to_ascii", input_value = "A"

› Output: 65

💡 Note: The character 'A' has ASCII value 65. Using ord('A') or equivalent gives us 65.

Example 2 — ASCII to Character

$ Input: mode = "ascii_to_char", input_value = "97"

› Output: a

💡 Note: ASCII value 97 corresponds to lowercase letter 'a'. Using chr(97) gives us 'a'.

Example 3 — Special Character

$ Input: mode = "char_to_ascii", input_value = " "

› Output: 32

💡 Note: The space character ' ' has ASCII value 32, which is commonly used in text processing.

Constraints

Input character must be within ASCII range (0-127)
Mode must be either "char_to_ascii" or "ascii_to_char"
For char_to_ascii: input must be a single character
For ascii_to_char: input must be a valid integer string

Visualization

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Asked in

G Google 15 a Amazon 12 M Microsoft 10 🍎 Apple 8

The key insight is that characters and ASCII values are two representations of the same data. Programming languages provide built-in functions like ord()/chr() for instant conversion. Best approach uses direct type casting with validation. Time: O(1), Space: O(1).

Common Approaches

✓ Direct Type Casting

⏱️ Time: O(1) Space: O(1)

This approach uses the programming language's built-in functions to directly cast between character and integer types. Every character has a corresponding ASCII value, and vice versa.

Enhanced Validation

⏱️ Time: O(1) Space: O(1)

This approach extends the basic type casting with proper input validation, range checking, and error handling to make it more robust for production use.

Direct Type Casting — Algorithm Steps

Check the mode to determine conversion direction
If char_to_ascii: cast character to integer to get ASCII value
If ascii_to_char: cast integer to character to get the symbol
Return the converted result

Visualization

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Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Input Analysis

Check mode and input value

Type Casting

Apply ord()/chr() or equivalent function

Result

Return converted value

Code -

solution.c — C

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

char* solution(char* mode, char* input_value) {
    static char result[20];
    
    if (strcmp(mode, "char_to_ascii") == 0) {
        sprintf(result, "%d", (int) input_value[0]);
    } else { // ascii_to_char
        sprintf(result, "%c", (char) atoi(input_value));
    }
    
    return result;
}

int main() {
    char mode[20], input_value[20];
    
    fgets(mode, sizeof(mode), stdin);
    mode[strcspn(mode, "\n")] = 0;
    
    fgets(input_value, sizeof(input_value), stdin);
    input_value[strcspn(input_value, "\n")] = 0;
    
    char* result = solution(mode, input_value);
    printf("%s\n", result);
    
    return 0;
}

Time & Space Complexity

Time Complexity

⏱️

O(1)

Type casting is a constant time operation regardless of input

✓ Linear Growth

Space Complexity

O(1)

Only storing the result value, no additional data structures needed

✓ Linear Space

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ASCII Value Finder - Problem

Input & Output

Constraints

Visualization

Related Problems

Common Approaches

Direct Type Casting — Algorithm Steps

Visualization

Code -

Time & Space Complexity

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