ASCII character chartNumbers are the language of computers. To communicate with programs (and with other computers), your computer converts characters and symbols into their numeric representations.In the 1960s, a need for standardization led to American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) (pronounced ask-kee). The ASCII chart contains 128 numbers assigned to corresponding characters. ASCII provides a way that computers can store and exchange data with other computers and programs.ASCII-formatted text contains no formatting information such as bold, italic, or fonts. When you use Microsoft Notepad or save a file as plain text in Microsoft Office Word, ASCII is used. You might have read an advertisement for a job opening where the employer asked for resumes in ASCII format. This means whether you send your resume in an e-mail message, fax, or as a printed copy, the employer wants your resume to contain no special style formatting. ASCII-formatted text works well with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scanning software, which large companies frequently use to scan resumes.Insert an ASCII character into a documentIn addition to typing a character on your keyboard, you can also use the character code of the symbol as a shortcut, or when a symbol isn't available on the keyboard you are using. To insert an ASCII character from the charts below, press and hold down ALT while typing the decimal numeric equivalent. For example, to insert the degree () symbol, press and hold down ALT while typing 0176 on the numeric keypad.Note You must use the numeric keypad to type the numbers and not the keyboard. Make sure that the NUM LOCK key is on if your keyboard requires it to type numbers on the numeric keypad.ASCII printing charactersNumbers 32126 are assigned to characters that you would find on your keyboard and appear when you view or print a document. Number 127 represents the DELETE command.ASCII printing characters chartDecimalCharacterDecimalCharacter

32space80P

33!81Q

34"82R

35#83S

36$84T

37%85U

38&86V

39'87w

40(88X

41)89Y

42*90Z

43+91[

44,92\

45-93]

46.94^

47/95_

48096`

49197a

50298b

51399c

524100d

535101e

546102f

557103g

568104h

579105i

58:106j

59;107k

60110n

63?111o

64@112p

65A113q

66B114r

67C115s

68D116t

69E117u

70F118v

71G119w

72H120x

73I121y

74J122z

75K123{

76L124|

77M125}

78N126~

79O127DEL

TipYou can reference the extended character set for a particular font using the Character Map program in Microsoft Windows. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Character Map.Extended ASCII printing charactersExtended ASCII characters meet the demand for more characters. Extended ASCII includes the 128 characters found in ASCII (numbers 032 appear in a following chart), and adds an additional 128 characters for 256 total. Even with these additional characters, many languages contain symbols that could not be condensed into 256 characters. Because of this, there are variants of ASCII to encompass regional characters and symbols.For example, the ASCII table also known as ISO 8859-1 is used by many software programs for languages in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and Africa.Extended ASCII printing characters chartDecimalCharacterDecimalCharacter

128192

129193

130194

131195

132196

133197

134198

135199

136200

137201

138202

139203

140204

141205

142206

143207

144208

145209

146210

147211

148212

149213

150214

151215

152216

153217

154218

155219

156220

157221

158222

159223

160224

161225

162226

163227

164228

165229

166230

167231

168232

169233

170234

171235

172236

173237

174238

175239

176240

177241

178242

179243

180244

181245

182246

183247

184248

185249

186250

187251

188252

189253

190254

191255

TipYou can reference the extended character set for a particular font using the Character Map program in Microsoft Windows. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Character Map.ASCII non-printing control charactersNumbers 031 on the ASCII table are assigned for control characters that are used to control some peripheral devices such as printers. For example, 12 represents the form feed/new page function. This command instructs a printer to skip to the top of the next page.ASCII non-printing control characters chartDecimalCharacterDecimalCharacter

0null16data link escape

1start of heading17device control 1

2start of text18device control 2

3end of text19device control 3

4end of transmission20device control 4

5inquiry21negative acknowledge

6acknowledge22synchronous idle

7bell23end of transmission block

8backspace24cancel

9horizontal tab25end of medium

10line feed/new line26substitute

11vertical tab27escape

12form feed/new page28file separator

13carriage return29group separator

14shift out30record separator

15shift in31unit separator

Beyond ASCIIAnother, newer table of characters is called Unicode. Because Unicode is a much larger table, it can represent 65,536 characters instead of the 128 of ASCII or 256 of extended ASCII. This larger capacity allows most characters of different languages to be included in one character set.