0u32 as char; // error: only `u8` can be cast as `char`, not `u32`
```
-As the error message indicates, only `u8` can be cast into `char`. Example:
+`char` is a Unicode Scalar Value, an integer value from 0 to 0xD7FF and
+0xE000 to 0x10FFFF. (The gap is for surrogate pairs.) Only `u8` always fits in
+those ranges so only `u8` may be cast to `char`.
+
+To allow larger values, use `char::from_u32`, which checks the value is valid.
```
-let c = 86u8 as char; // ok!
-assert_eq!(c, 'V');
+assert_eq!(86u8 as char, 'V'); // ok!
+assert_eq!(char::from_u32(0x3B1), Some('α')); // ok!
+assert_eq!(char::from_u32(0xD800), None); // not a USV.
```
For more information about casts, take a look at the Type cast section in