Easy Q: Found ASCII #, is there CHR('x') to Return Ascii value?

I am trying to store an array of integers as a field in an On-line database. Not finding a way to do this in the manuals, I decided to try doing it as an array of characters, and encoding the values into the field with 4GL. The Question(s): I found the ASCII n function that lets you convert an ascii value to a character, but I can't find the function to convert a character to an ascii value, ala BASIC's CHR$('x') function. What do I need to do to pull this off? Also, how are chars stored in Informix? 7-bit or 8-bit? Does it store any value up to 127 (if 7-bit)/255 (if 8-bit)? Can anyone think of a better way to do this? BTW: This program is accumulating occurances of records in another table, generating a summary report for a week of how many times each record is in the other (a history) table. If that makes any sense at all :-) Thanks Muchly, - Brian G. -- ...You have our gratitude! -- Dr. Klahn