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ASCII

ASCII & ANSI
Binary Codes

In the Old American West of the 1850's, Sam Morse's telegraph code replaced the Pony Express. The Morse code is a binary code of long and short signals whose various patterns and combinations represent letters and digits. For example, the familiar S.O.S. distress call in Morse code is ... --- ... With the merger of the telegraph and typewriter, a binary code, similar to that of the LooLooLos, gradually replaced the Morse code. In this new code, a unique binary number represents each keyboard character. This newer code came to be called the ASCII code, an acronym for American Standard Code of Information Interchange. Today all computer networks, including the World Wide Web, use ASCII as their standard. An S.O.S. signal in ASCII looks like this: 1010011 1001111 1010011. ASCII was later expanded to include international characters such as Å Ñ Ö. These extra characters are called ANSI (American National Standards Institute) characters in America, and ISO (International Standards Organization) characters in other parts of the world. An S.O.S. signal in ANSI looks like this: 01010011 01001111 01010011. Notice that each character is represented by 8 digits, rather than by 7 as in ASCII. An S.O.S. signal in hexadecimal looks like this: 53 4F 53, and in decimal like this: 83 79 83.

The table below lists the ASCII and ANSI codes with both their Decimal and Hexadecimal equivalent. The Decimal code is to the left of the character, the Hexadecimal, to the right. The first 32 codes, sometimes called the Control Codes, are those used by printers, modems, and cell phones to make connections to computers. Software programs may define each control character differently, but here are some of the standard definitions:

7 = 07 = CTRL+G = BEL = bell sound (Ding!)

8 = 08 = CTRL+H = BS = back space

9 = 09 = CTRL+I = TAB = tab key

10 = 0A = CTRL+J = LF = line feed (next line)

11 = 0B = CTRL+K = VT = tab down

12 = 0C = CTRL+L = FF = form feed (new sheet)

13 = 0D = CTRL+M = CR = carriage return (enter key)

27 = 1B = CTRL+[ = ESC = escape key

Click here to read more about The History of Character Codes .


  CTRL+ CODES
   0NUL 0     1SOH 1     2STX 2     3ETX 3     4EOT 4     5ENQ 5     6ACK 6     7BEL 7

   8 BS 8     9 HT 9    10 LF A    11 VT B    12 FF C    13 CR D    14 SO E    15 SI F

  16DLE10    17DC111    18DC212    19DC313    20DC414    21NAK15    22SYN16    23ETB17

  24CAN18    25EM 19    26SUB1A    27ESC1B    28FS 1C    29GS 1D    30RS 1E    31US 1F


  ASCII CODES
  32   20    33 ! 21    34 " 22    35 # 23    36 $ 24    37 % 25    38 & 26    39 ' 27

  40 ( 28    41 ) 29    42 * 2A    43 + 2B    44 , 2C    45 - 2D    46 . 2E    47 / 2F

  48 0 30    49 1 31    50 2 32    51 3 33    52 4 34    53 5 35    54 6 36    55 7 37

  56 8 38    57 9 39    58 : 3A    59 ; 3B    60 < 3C    61 = 3D    62 > 3E    63 ? 3F

  64 @ 40    65 A 41    66 B 42    67 C 43    68 D 44    69 E 45    70 F 46    71 G 47

  72 H 48    73 I 49    74 J 4A    75 K 4B    76 L 4C    77 M 4D    78 N 4E    79 O 4F

  80 P 50    81 Q 51    82 R 52    83 S 53    84 T 54    85 U 55    86 V 56    87 W 57

  88 X 58    89 Y 59    90 Z 5A    91 [ 5B    92 \ 5C    93 ] 5D    94 ^ 5E    95 _ 5F

  96 ` 60    97 a 61    98 b 62    99 c 63   100 d 64   101 e 65   102 f 66   103 g 67

 104 h 68   105 i 69   106 j 6A   107 k 6B   108 l 6C   109 m 6D   110 n 6E   111 o 6F

 112 p 70   113 q 71   114 r 72   115 s 73   116 t 74   117 u 75   118 v 76   119 w 77

 120 x 78   121 y 79   122 z 7A   123 { 7B   124 | 7C   125 } 7D   126 ~ 7E   127DEL7F


 EXTENDED ASCII CODES
 128 � 80   129 � 81   130 � 82   131 � 83   132 � 84   133 � 85   134 � 86   135 � 87

 136 � 88   137 � 89   138 � 8A   139 � 8B   140 � 8C   141 � 8D   142 � 8E   143 � 8F

 144 � 90   145 � 91   146 � 92   147 � 93   148 � 94   149 � 95   150 � 96   151 — 97

 152 � 98   153 � 99   154 � 9A   155 � 9B   156 � 9C   157 � 9D   158 � 9E   159 � 9F

 160   A0   161 � A1   162 � A2   163 � A3   164 � A4   165 � A5   166 � A6   167 � A7

 168 � A8   169 � A9   170 � AA   171 � AB   172 � AC   173 � AD   174 � AE   175 � AF

 176 � B0   177 � B1   178 � B2   179 � B3   180 � B4   181 � B5   182 � B6   183 � B7

 184 � B8   185 � B9   186 � BA   187 � BB   188 � BC   189 � BD   190 � BE   191 � BF

 192 � C0   193 � C1   194 � C2   195 � C3   196 � C4   197 � C5   198 � C6   199 � C7

 200 � C8   201 � C9   202 � CA   203 � CB   204 � CC   205 � CD   206 � CE   207 � CF

 208 � D0   209 � D1   210 � D2   211 � D3   212 � D4   213 � D5   214 � D6   215 � D7

 216 � D8   217 � D9   218 � DA   219 � DB   220 � DC   221 � DD   222 � DE   223 � DF

 224 � E0   225 � E1   226 � E2   227 � E3   228 � E4   229 � E5   230 � E6   231 � E7

 232 � E8   233 � E9   234 � EA   235 � EB   236 � EC   237 � ED   238 � EE   239 � EF

 240 � F0   241 � F1   242 � F2   243 � F3   244 � F4   245 � F5   246 � F6   247 � F7

 248 � F8   249 � F9   250 � FA   251 � FB   252 � FC   253 � FD   254 � FE   255 � FF

ASSIGNMENT
Exercise 1: Use the applet at the top of the page to convert keyboard characters into both their Hexadecimal and Decimal equivalents. Enter the title of your favorite movie over the last year into the Original Text Message box. Press the [ENTER] key. You will see the Hexadecimal and Decimal equivalents of your text. Hilite the Hexadecimal code by dragging your mouse across each character. Copy this code with CTRL+C or Edit/Copy. Also code the name of your favorite actor or actress. On the ASCII wiki page, create a comment, and paste only the Hexadecimal code for your movie and actor. If someone has already chosen your movie and actor, pick another. Earn 3 points.

Exercise 2: Choose one of your fellow student's encoded movie and actor. Decode the movie and actor using the ASCII table. Post your decoded message in a comment. Tell us whose movie and actor you are decoding. If someone has already decoded your choice, pick another. Earn 4 more points.

If you don't get out much, choose your favorite TV show and TV personality. Encode and post them. If you don't like movies and TV, encode and post your favorite song and performer. If you are too good for electronic media, encode and post your last favorite book and author. If you do not imbibe in any cultural offerings whatsoever, why are you in college?

EXAMPLE

Exercise 1:

4120536572696573206F6620556E666F7274756E617465204576656E7473

4C656D6F6E7920536E69636B6574

Exercise 2:

A   S e r i e s   o f   U n f o r t u n a t e   E v e n t s

L e m o n y   S n i c k e t

Comment on this Page

Last Modified 8/24/08 6:35 PM