The ASCII Character Set

The standard ASCII character set uses only 7 bits of the 8 bit byte for each character. There are several larger character sets that use all 8 bits of the byte, which gives them an 128 additional characters in the set. The extra characters are used to represent characters not used in the English language, graphics characters or symbols, and mathematical representations or symbols.

ASCII Control Character Information

ASCII control characters are actually commands for the terminal, monitor, computer, I/O devices, printer or other peripherals to do something. The first 32 values are non-printing control characters, such as 'carriage return' and 'line feed'. You generate these characters on the keyboard by holding down the 'control' key while you strike another key. These characters are also capable of being sent to the device by a software sequence, most often by a program. They are usually sent as a string of characters following an attention character, usually 'escape', but not always.

ASCII Control Characters

Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	Ctrl-key	XLISP
NUL	0	0	0	Ctrl+@	#\	-	null character
SOH	1	1	1	Ctrl+a		-	start of heading
STX	2	2	2	Ctrl+b		-	start of text
ETX	3	3	3	Ctrl+c		-	end of text
EOT	4	4	4	Ctrl+d		-	end of transmission
ENQ	5	5	5	Ctrl+e		-	enquiry
ACK	6	6	6	Ctrl+f		-	acknowledge
BEL	7	7	7	Ctrl+g		-	rings terminal bell
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	Ctrl-key	XLISP
BS	10	8	8	Ctrl+h		-	backspace (non-destructive)
HT	11	9	9	Ctrl+i	#\Tab	-	horizontal tab
LF	12	10	A	Ctrl+j	#\Newline	-	line feed
VT	13	11	B	Ctrl+k		-	vertical tab
FF	14	12	C	Ctrl+l		-	form feed
CR	15	13	D	Ctrl+m		-	carriage return
SO	16	14	E	Ctrl+n		-	shift out
SI	17	15	F	Ctrl+o		-	shift in
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	Ctrl-key	XLISP
DLE	20	16	10	Ctrl+p		-	data link escape
DC1	21	17	11	Ctrl+q		-	device control 1, normally 'xon'
DC2	22	18	12	Ctrl+r		-	device control 2
DC3	23	19	13	Ctrl+s		-	device control 3, normally 'xoff'
DC4	24	20	14	Ctrl+t		-	device control 4
NAK	25	21	15	Ctrl+u		-	negative acknowledge
SYN	26	22	16	Ctrl+v		-	synchronous idle
ETB	27	23	17	Ctrl+w		-	end transmission block
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	Ctrl-key	XLISP
CAN	30	24	17	Ctrl+x		-	cancel line
EM	31	25	19	Ctrl+y		-	end of medium
SUB	32	26	1A	Ctrl+z		-	substitute
ESC	33	27	1B	Ctrl+[		-	escape
FS	34	28	1C	Ctrl+\		-	file separator
GS	35	29	1D	Ctrl+]		-	group separator
RS	36	30	1E	Ctrl+^		-	record separator
US	37	31	1F	Ctrl+_		-	unit separator
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	Ctrl-key	XLISP

ASCII Printing Characters

Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP
	40	32	20	#\Space	-	space
!	41	33	21	#\!	-	exclamation mark
"	42	34	22	#\"	-	quotation mark
#	43	35	23	#\#	-	cross hatch, number sign
$	44	36	24	#\$	-	dollar sign
%	45	37	25	#\%	-	percent sign
&	46	38	26	#\&	-	ampersand
`	47	39	27	#\`	-	backquote, apostrophe
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP
(	50	40	28	#\(	-	opening parentheses
)	51	41	29	#\)	-	closing parentheses
*	52	42	2A	#\*	-	asterisk, star, multiply
+	53	43	2B	#\+	-	plus
,	54	44	2C	#\,	-	comma
-	55	45	2D	#\-	-	hyphen, dash, minus
.	56	46	2E	#\.	-	period
/	57	47	2F	#\/	-	slash forward, divide
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP
0	60	48	30	#\0	-	zero
1	61	49	31	#\1	-	one
2	62	50	32	#\2	-	two
3	63	51	33	#\3	-	three
4	64	52	34	#\4	-	four
5	65	53	35	#\5	-	five
6	66	54	36	#\6	-	six
7	67	55	37	#\7	-	seven
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP
8	70	56	38	#\8	-	eight
9	71	57	39	#\9	-	nine
:	72	58	3A	#\:	-	colon
;	73	59	3B	#\;	-	semicolon
<	74	60	3C	#\<	-	less than sign
=	75	61	3D	#\=	-	equals sign
>	76	62	3E	#\>	-	greater than sign
?	77	63	3F	#\?	-	question mark
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP
@	100	64	40	#\@	-	at-sign
A	101	65	41	#\A	-	upper case A
B	102	66	42	#\B	-	upper case B
C	103	67	43	#\C	-	upper case C
D	104	68	44	#\D	-	upper case D
E	105	69	45	#\E	-	upper case E
F	106	70	46	#\F	-	upper case F
G	107	71	47	#\G	-	upper case G
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP
H	110	72	48	#\H	-	upper case H
I	111	73	49	#\I	-	upper case I
J	112	74	4A	#\J	-	upper case J
K	113	75	4B	#\K	-	upper case K
L	114	76	4C	#\L	-	upper case L
M	115	77	4D	#\M	-	upper case M
N	116	78	4E	#\N	-	upper case N
O	117	79	4F	#\O	-	upper case O
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP
P	120	80	50	#\P	-	upper case P
Q	121	81	51	#\Q	-	upper case Q
R	122	82	52	#\R	-	upper case R
S	123	83	53	#\S	-	upper case S
T	124	84	54	#\T	-	upper case T
U	125	85	55	#\U	-	upper case U
V	126	86	56	#\V	-	upper case V
W	127	87	57	#\W	-	upper case W
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP
X	130	88	58	#\X	-	upper case X
Y	131	89	59	#\Y	-	upper case Y
Z	132	90	5A	#\Z	-	upper case Z
[	133	91	5B	#\[	-	opening square bracket
\	134	92	5C	#\\	-	backslash, reverse slant
]	135	93	5D	#\]	-	closing square bracket
^	136	94	5E	#\^	-	caret, circumflex
_	137	95	5F	#\_	-	underscore
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP
`	140	96	60	#\`	-	opening single quote
a	141	97	61	#\a	-	lower case a
b	142	98	62	#\b	-	lower case b
c	143	99	63	#\c	-	lower case c
d	144	100	64	#\d	-	lower case d
e	145	101	65	#\e	-	lower case e
f	146	102	66	#\f	-	lower case f
g	147	103	67	#\g	-	lower case g
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP
h	150	104	68	#\h	-	lower case h
i	151	105	69	#\i	-	lower case i
j	152	106	6A	#\j	-	lower case j
k	153	107	6B	#\k	-	lower case k
l	154	108	6C	#\l	-	lower case l
m	155	109	6D	#\m	-	lower case m
n	156	110	6E	#\n	-	lower case n
o	157	111	6F	#\o	-	lower case o
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP
p	160	112	70	#\p	-	lower case p
q	161	113	71	#\q	-	lower case q
r	162	114	72	#\r	-	lower case r
s	163	115	73	#\s	-	lower case s
t	164	116	74	#\t	-	lower case t
u	165	117	75	#\u	-	lower case u
v	166	118	76	#\v	-	lower case v
w	167	119	77	#\w	-	lower case w
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP
x	170	120	78	#\x	-	lower case x
y	171	121	79	#\y	-	lower case y
z	172	122	7A	#\z	-	lower case z
{	173	123	7B	#\{	-	opening curly brace
|	174	124	7C	#\|	-	vertical line
}	175	125	7D	#\}	-	closing curly brace
~	176	126	7E	#\~	-	tilde, approximate
DEL	177	127	7F		-	delete, cross-hatch box
Char	Oct	Dec	Hex	XLISP