The ASCII Character Set for Emacs Users

Note that character code values are given in Octal (base 8), Emacs' preferred number base. We are only displaying the lower half of ASCII here, i.e., those characters where the high-order bit is zero. There are no standard names or graphics for the characters in the upper half, but Emacs calls them the meta characters. For example, the character M-a is a with the high-order bit set. The ASCII value for a is octal 0141, so the ASCII value for M-a is octal 0340, which is 0141 + 0177 (0177 is 128 decimal; there are 128 characters in the lower half of ASCII). Likewise, C-z is 032, and C-M-z is 0231.

The Control Characters

There are 32 control characters (and 32 meta-control characters in the upper half).
|000 C-@|001 C-a|002 C-b|003 C-c|004 C-d|005 C-e|006 C-f|007 C-g|
|010 C-h|011 C-i|012 C-j|013 C-k|014 C-l|015 C-m|016 C-n|017 C-o|
|020 C-p|021 C-q|022 C-r|023 C-s|024 C-t|025 C-u|026 C-v|027 C-w|
|030 C-x|031 C-y|032 C-z|033 C-[|034 C-\e|035 C-]|036 C-^|037 C-_|

The Graphic Characters

There are 95 graphic, or printing, characters: all of those listed below with the exception of 0177 DEL (the delete character).
|040 SP |041  ! |042  " |043  # |044  $ |045  % |046  & |047  ' |
|050  ( |051  ) |052  * |053  + |054  , |055  - |056  . |057  / |
|060  0 |061  1 |062  2 |063  3 |064  4 |065  5 |066  6 |067  7 |
|070  8 |071  9 |072  : |073  ; |074  < |075  = |076  > |077  ? |
|100  @ |101  A |102  B |103  C |104  D |105  E |106  F |107  G |
|110  H |111  I |112  J |113  K |114  L |115  M |116  N |117  O |
|120  P |121  Q |122  R |123  S |124  T |125  U |126  V |127  W |
|130  X |131  Y |132  Z |133  [ |134  \e |135  ] |136  ^ |137  _ |
|140  ` |141  a |142  b |143  c |144  d |145  e |146  f |147  g |
|150  h |151  i |152  j |153  k |154  l |155  m |156  n |157  o |
|160  p |161  q |162  r |163  s |164  t |165  u |166  v |167  w |
|170  x |171  y |172  z |173  { |174  | |175  } |176  ~ |177 DEL|

Keith Waclena <k-waclena@uchicago.edu>
The University of Chicago Library

This page last updated: Wed Aug 2 09:26:34 CDT 1995
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