What Is the ASCII Table?
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is a character encoding standard that assigns numerical values to letters, digits, punctuation marks, and control characters. First published in 1963, it remains the foundation of virtually all modern character encoding systems.
Who Is This For?
Developers
Students
System Administrators
Anyone
Standard ASCII vs Extended ASCII
Characters 0–127
- 33 control characters
- 95 printable characters
- Letters, digits, basic punctuation
- 7-bit encoding
Characters 128–255
- 128 additional characters
- Latin-1 Supplement
- Accented letters, currency symbols
- Mathematical operators
How to Use the ASCII Table
Browse the Table
When you open the tool, you see the full ASCII table organized by category. Each row shows the decimal (DEC), hexadecimal (HEX), octal (OCT) values, the character itself, and a description. Click any row to expand it and reveal all available representations.
Search for Characters
Type in the search box to instantly filter the table. You can search by:
- Character — type the character itself (e.g.,
A,@,~) - Decimal code — type a number (e.g.,
65for the letter A) - Hex code — type the hex value (e.g.,
41for the letter A) - Name — type part of the description (e.g., exclamation, copyright)
Filter by Category
Use the filter buttons to narrow down the table to a specific character group:
Control
Digits
A-Z
a-z
Symbols
Extended
Copy Values
Click any row to expand the character details. Then click any value (DEC, HEX, OCT, BIN, HTML, CSS, or JS) to copy it directly to your clipboard.
Keyboard Detection
Click the keyboard icon in the toolbar to activate detection mode. Then press any key on your keyboard — the tool will instantly highlight the corresponding character in the table and show its code in the banner.
Pin Favorites
Click the bookmark icon on any character to pin it. Pinned characters appear at the top of the page for quick access. Your pins are saved automatically and persist between sessions.
Features
Complete Character Coverage
All 256 characters included:
- Standard ASCII set (0–127)
- Control characters
- Digits, letters, and symbols
- Extended ASCII range (128–255)
- Latin-1 Supplement characters
Multiple Number Representations
Seven formats for each character:
- Decimal (DEC)
- Hexadecimal (HEX)
- Octal (OCT)
- Binary (BIN)
- HTML entity
- CSS escape code
- JavaScript escape code
Smart Search
Search across multiple fields:
- Character itself
- Decimal or hex code
- Descriptive name
- Real-time results
Category Filters
Color-coded category buttons:
- Control characters
- Digits (0-9)
- Uppercase (A-Z)
- Lowercase (a-z)
- Symbols
- Extended ASCII
Keyboard Detection Mode
Find characters by pressing keys:
- Instant character highlighting
- Code values displayed in banner
- Perfect for special characters
- Verify key codes quickly
Table and Grid Views
Switch between viewing modes:
- Detailed table view (all columns)
- Compact grid view (character badges)
- Preference saved between sessions
Pin and Bookmark
Save frequently used characters:
- Pin to top of page
- Quick access to favorites
- Saved in browser storage
- Persists across sessions
Dark Mode
Full dark mode support:
- Carefully adjusted colors
- Optimized for every category
- Excellent readability
- Visual clarity in both modes
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ASCII?
ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It is a character encoding standard that maps 128 characters (letters, digits, punctuation, and control codes) to numerical values from 0 to 127. Published in 1963, it became the basis for most modern encoding systems including UTF-8.
What is the difference between ASCII and Extended ASCII?
Standard ASCII uses 7 bits and defines 128 characters (0–127). Extended ASCII uses 8 bits and adds 128 more characters (128–255), typically following the ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1) standard. These additional characters include accented letters, currency symbols, and mathematical operators commonly used in Western European languages.
| Feature | Standard ASCII | Extended ASCII |
|---|---|---|
| Character Range | 0–127 | 128–255 |
| Bit Encoding | 7-bit | 8-bit |
| Total Characters | 128 | 128 additional |
| Character Types | Basic letters, digits, symbols | Accented letters, currency, math symbols |
What are control characters?
Control characters (codes 0–31 and 127) are non-printable characters originally designed to control hardware devices like printers and terminals. While many are rarely used today, some remain fundamental in text processing.
Common Control Characters:
- NUL (0) — Null character
- TAB (9) — Horizontal tab
- LF (10) — Line feed (newline)
- CR (13) — Carriage return
- ESC (27) — Escape
- DEL (127) — Delete
How do I find the ASCII code of a key on my keyboard?
Click the keyboard icon in the toolbar to enable keyboard detection mode. Then press any key — the tool will instantly show its ASCII code and highlight the corresponding entry in the table.
What is an HTML entity?
An HTML entity is a way to represent characters in HTML using numeric codes. For example, A represents the letter "A" (decimal 65). This is useful when you need to display special characters that might otherwise be interpreted as HTML markup.
Common HTML Entities:
| Character | HTML Entity | Description |
|---|---|---|
< |
< or < |
Less than |
> |
> or > |
Greater than |
& |
& or & |
Ampersand |
" |
" or " |
Quotation mark |
Is my data stored or sent anywhere?
No. This tool runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to any server. Your pinned characters and view preferences are saved locally in your browser's storage.
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