Convert.ToUInt16 (Char) converts Unicode character to 16-bit unsigned integer.
Class Sample Public Shared Sub Main() Dim chars() As Char = { "a"c, "z"c, ChrW(7), ChrW(Short.MaxValue), ChrW(&hFFFE) } Dim result As UShort For Each ch As Char in chars result = Convert.ToUInt16(ch) Console.WriteLine("Converted the {0} value '{1}' to the {2} value {3}.", _ ch.GetType().Name, ch, _ result.GetType().Name, result) Next End Sub End Class