=over

=item ord EXPR
X<ord> X<encoding>

=item ord

Returns the numeric value of the first character of EXPR.
If EXPR is an empty string, returns 0.  If EXPR is omitted, uses
L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_>.
(Note I<character>, not byte.)

For the reverse, see L<C<chr>|/chr NUMBER>.
See L<perlunicode> for more about Unicode.

=back