ASCII Table Explorer
The universal dictionary of computers. Interactive chart, key visualizer, and base converter.
Visualizer
Press any key on your keyboard to instantly see its ASCII values.
Character Map
The Language of Machines
At their core, computers are just calculators. They don't understand "A", "@", or "Home". They only understand numbers (and ultimately, binary 0s and 1s). ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is the Rosetta Stone that maps these numbers to human-readable characters.
Why 7 Bits?
Original ASCII was a 7-bit code, allowing for 2⁷ = 128 characters.
- 0-31Control CodesTeletype commands
- 32-127PrintableEnglish alphabet
Beyond ASCII: Unicode
The world is bigger than English. While ASCII is great for 'Hello', it can't say '你好' or '😊'.
The Mystery of Control Characters
Ever wonder why Code 7 is "Bell"? On old teletype machines, sending this code would literally ring a physical bell to alert the operator. Today, codes like Line Feed (10) and Carriage Return (13) are still crucial for deciding when a line of text ends in your code editor.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does ASCII stand for?
ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It is a character encoding standard for electronic communication.
Why does ASCII only have 128 characters?
Original ASCII uses 7 bits to represent a character. 2 to the power of 7 equals 128 (0-127). The 8th bit was historically used for error checking (parity) or later for Extended ASCII.
What is the ASCII code for Space?
The ASCII code for a Space character is 32 (Decimal), 20 (Hex), or 00100000 (Binary).
What are Control Characters?
ASCII codes 0-31 and 127 are "Control Characters". They are not printable symbols but commands to control devices (e.g., Code 13 is Carriage Return, Code 10 is Line Feed, originally for teletype machines).
What is the difference between ASCII and Unicode?
ASCII is a subset of Unicode. ASCII uses 7 bits for 128 characters (English text). Unicode uses up to 32 bits to represent over 140,000 characters from all the world's languages and emojis.
How do I convert Text to Binary?
Each character in your text corresponds to an ASCII number. Convert that decimal number to base-2 (binary). For example, "A" is 65, which is 01000001 in binary.
What is Extended ASCII?
Extended ASCII uses the full 8 bits (byte) to add another 128 characters (codes 128-255). It includes accented letters (é, ñ), math symbols (½, ±), and box-drawing characters.
Why is "A" 65 and "a" 97?
The difference between uppercase and lowercase letters in ASCII is exactly 32. This simple bit-shift (setting the 6th bit) made it easy for early computers to case-insensitive sort or convert text.
What is the "Null" character?
The Null character (NUL, code 0) typically signifies "nothing" or the end of a string in memory (C-style strings). It does not print anything.
Is ASCII still used today?
Yes! The first 128 characters of UTF-8 (the most common web encoding) are exactly the same as ASCII. Any valid ASCII file is also a valid UTF-8 file.