Thread: how can I find type of characters?

Hi.
I am working on a program that works with words.
one of the variables can be filled by both english characters and arabic characters(the data base that I have to use has a mix of english and arabic words without any separation)!

for example

Code:

string a;
a="hello";
a="سلام";

is there any way to check if the variable has been filed with english characters or arabic characters?

thank you
arian

I found one way:
using of the asci code of 'a' and 'z'

Code:

string str;
if ( str.substring(0,1).to lower() < zAsciCode && str.substring(0,1).to lower()> aAscicode)
    it is an english word
else
    it is an arabic word

is there a better way?