Returns true if the first character of a string is alphabetic.

Syntax

ISALPHA(<expC>)

<expC>

The string you want to test.

Description

ISALPHA( ) tests the first character of the string and returns true if it’s an alphabetic character. ISALPHA( ) returns false if the character isn’t alphabetic or if that character position is empty.

The current language driver defines the character values that are lowercase and uppercase alphabetic. In a U.S. language driver, a lowercase alphabetic character is from a to z, and an uppercase alphabetic character is from A to Z.

Other than the syntactic difference of being a method instead of a function, the isAlpha( ) method behaves identically to the ISAPLHA( ) function.