# Converting string to character

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/converting-string-to-character/76715>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [February 18, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/converting-string-to-character/76715 "2022-02-18T18:12:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![programmer12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@programmer12](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/programmer12)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/converting-string-to-character/76715/1 "2022-02-18T18:12:07Z")

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Hi all,

I am new to Julia and would appreciate some help. I am trying to make a calculator on Julia for body mass index. Essentially, this calculator will ask the user to choose Metric or Imperial in the beginning of the program. So far, I have:

print("Type Metric or Imperial: ")

How would I format this string to a character?

Thank you!

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**Author:** ![jling](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/jling/32/212909_2.png) [@jling](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/jling)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 6:33pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/converting-string-to-character/76715/2 "2022-02-18T18:33:53Z")

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> [@programmer12](#):
>
> string with “invisible” characters to the computer.

what does this mean?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![programmer12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@programmer12](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/programmer12)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 6:42pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/converting-string-to-character/76715/3 "2022-02-18T18:42:58Z")

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Hi, my apologies…I meant to say that the string would have invisible characters to the viewer (I assume that there are hidden characters which gets recognized by the computer, even though it looks complete to us).

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**Author:** ![stillyslalom](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stillyslalom/32/45687_2.png) [@stillyslalom](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/stillyslalom)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 6:56pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/converting-string-to-character/76715/4 "2022-02-18T18:56:57Z")

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Consider using a built-in [RadioMenu](https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/stdlib/REPL/#RadioMenu):

```julia
using REPL.TerminalMenus
menu = RadioMenu(["Metric", "Imperial"])
request("Pick unit system:", menu)

```

![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/7/9/7998dd389a88acb333ebf9cbdaaf94746e9c8f98.png)