When you type the letter "A", or the letter "x" or the number "9" on your keyboard, how does the computer know which letter you've typed? Does a little "a" go running up that wire to the CPU? Nope. The keys on your keyboard are just switches with (removable) plastic caps. When you type "a", the machine "sees" the Hexadecimal number 61. Software inside the machine relates x61 to the lower-case letter "a".

Check the chart. What number represents the upper-case letter "A"? Values below x20 (space), are for "control" characters that do things like send "new line" or "carriage return" messages. Which key might map to the value x7F - DEL? Do spaces in files take up space on your computer's disk?

ASCII Character Set - Hexaecimal Equivalents of Keyboard Letters & Numbers

| 00 NUL| 01 SOH| 02 STX| 03 ETX| 04 EOT| 05 ENQ| 06 ACK| 07 BEL|
| 08 BS | 09 HT | 0A NL | 0B VT | 0C NP | 0D CR | 0E SO | 0F SI |
| 10 DLE| 11 DC1| 12 DC2| 13 DC3| 14 DC4| 15 NAK| 16 SYN| 17 ETB|
| 18 CAN| 19 EM | 1A SUB| 1B ESC| 1C FS | 1D GS | 1E RS | 1F US |
| 20 SP | 21  ! | 22  " | 23  # | 24  $ | 25  % | 26  & | 27  ' |
| 28  ( | 29  ) | 2A  * | 2B  + | 2C  , | 2D  - | 2E  . | 2F  / |
| 30  0 | 31  1 | 32  2 | 33  3 | 34  4 | 35  5 | 36  6 | 37  7 |
| 38  8 | 39  9 | 3A  : | 3B  ; | 3C  < | 3D  = | 3E  > | 3F  ? |
| 40  @ | 41  A | 42  B | 43  C | 44  D | 45  E | 46  F | 47  G |
| 48  H | 49  I | 4A  J | 4B  K | 4C  L | 4D  M | 4E  N | 4F  O |
| 50  P | 51  Q | 52  R | 53  S | 54  T | 55  U | 56  V | 57  W |
| 58  X | 59  Y | 5A  Z | 5B  [ | 5C  \ | 5D  ] | 5E  ^ | 5F  _ |
| 60  ` | 61  a | 62  b | 63  c | 64  d | 65  e | 66  f | 67  g |
| 68  h | 69  i | 6A  j | 6B  k | 6C  l | 6D  m | 6E  n | 6F  o |
| 70  p | 71  q | 72  r | 73  s | 74  t | 75  u | 76  v | 77  w |
| 78  x | 79  y | 7A  z | 7B  { | 7C  | | 7D  } | 7E  ~ | 7F DEL|

Source: Sun Microsystems. [Online manual page].

Copyright © Christopher Brown-Syed 1995-2001. Chart Copyright Sun Microsystems. Disclaimers.