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Character Encoding Quick Guide
 
 
Encoding defines how the values of certain characters are represented, in terms of bits. Examples:
  • ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), a 7-bit character set.
  • ISO-8859-1, a 8-bit character set.
  • Unicode, a 16-bit character set.


Quick reference







ASCII.



ANSI is a standards body and their best-known encoding is ASCII. ASCII is a 7-bit encoding, covering values from 0 to 127.

Character ranges 0-31 decimal and 127 decimal are control characters and are not printable.

To add the [ character in HTML, type:
  • &#decimal_value;

    For example: [    

  • &#xhex_value;

    For example: [


Decimal Hex Unicode Description CharacterEntity NameKey
000 000000null [nul]   Ctrl-@
001 010001start of heading [soh]   Ctrl-A
002 020002start of text [stx]   Ctrl-B
003 030003end of text [etx]   Ctrl-C
004 040004end of transmission [eot]   Ctrl-D
005 050005enquiry [enq]   Ctrl-E
006 060006acknowledge [ack]   Ctrl-F
007 070007bell [bel]   Ctrl-G
008 080008backspace [bs]   Ctrl-H
009 090009horizontal tab [ht]   Ctrl-I
010 0A000Anew line, line feed [nl]   Ctrl-J
011 0B000Bvertical tab [vt]   Ctrl-K
012 0C000Cform feed, new page [ff]   Ctrl-L
013 0D000Dcarriage return [cr]   Ctrl-M
014 0E000Eshift out [so]   Ctrl-N
015 0F000Fshift in [si]   Ctrl-O
016 100010data link escape [dle]   Ctrl-P
017 110011device control 1 [dc1]   Ctrl-Q
018 120012device control 2 [dc2]   Ctrl-R
019 130013device control 3 [dc3]   Ctrl-S
020 140014device control 4 [dc4]   Ctrl-T
021 150015negative acknowledge [nak]   Ctrl-U
022 160016synchronous idle [syn]   Ctrl-V
023 170017end of trans. block [etb]   Ctrl-W
024 180018cancel [can]   Ctrl-X
025 190019end of medium [em]   Ctrl-Y
026 1A001Asubstitute [sub]   Ctrl-Z
027 1B001Bescape [esc]   Ctrl-[
028 1C001Cfile separator [fs]   Ctrl-\
029 1D001Dgroup separator [gs]   Ctrl-]
030 1E001Erecord separator [rs]   Ctrl-^
031 1F001Funit separator [us]   Ctrl-_
032 200020Space Space    
033 210021Exclamation mark !   
034 220022quotation mark ""  
035 230023Number sign #   
036 240024Dollar sign $   
037 250025Percent sign %   
038 260026Ampersand &&  
039 270027Apostrophe '   
040 280028Left parenthesis (   
041 290029Right parenthesis )   
042 2A002AAsterisk *   
043 2B002BPlus sign +   
044 2C002CComma ,   
045 2D002DHyphen -   
046 2E002EPeriod (fullstop) .   
047 2F002FSolidus (slash) /   
048 3000300 0   
049 3100311 1   
050 3200322 2   
051 3300333 3   
052 3400344 4   
053 3500355 5   
054 3600366 6   
055 3700377 7   
056 3800388 8   
057 3900399 9   
058 3A003AColon :   
059 3B003BSemi-colon ;   
060 3C003Cless-than sign <&lt;  
061 3D003DEquals sign =   
062 3E003Egreater-than sign >&gt;  
063 3F003FQuestion mark ?   
064 400040Commercial at @   
065 410041A A   
066 420042B B   
067 430043C C   
068 440044D D   
069 450045E E   
070 460046F F   
071 470047G G   
072 480048H H   
073 490049I I   
074 4A004AJ J   
075 4B004BK K   
076 4C004CL L   
077 4D004DM M   
078 4E004EN N   
079 4F004FO O   
080 500050P P   
081 510051Q Q   
082 520052R R   
083 530053S S   
084 540054T T   
085 550055U U   
086 560056V V   
087 570057W W   
088 580058X X   
089 590059Y Y   
090 5A005AZ Z   
091 5B005BLeft square bracket [   
092 5C005CReverse solidus (backslash) \   
093 5D005DRight square bracket ]   
094 5E005ECaret ^   
095 5F005FHorizontal bar (underscore) _   
096 600060Acute accent `   
097 610061a a   
098 620062b b   
099 630063c c   
100 640064d d   
101 650065e e   
102 660066f f   
103 670067g g   
104 680068h h   
105 690069i i   
106 6A006Aj j   
107 6B006Bk k   
108 6C006Cl l   
109 6D006Dm m   
110 6E006En n   
111 6F006Fo o   
112 700070p p   
113 710071q q   
114 720072r r   
115 730073s s   
116 740074t t   
117 750075u u   
118 760076v v   
119 770077w w   
120 780078x x   
121 790079y y   
122 7A007Az z   
123 7B007BLeft curly brace {   
124 7C007CVertical bar |   
125 7D007DRight curly brace }   
126 7E007ETilde ~   
127 7F007Fdelete [del]   


The ASCII character set in a text file.
The printable ASCII characters in a text file.