staf V. Cerf i UCLA Cctover 16, 1959 Network Working Group/Request: for Conments:20 ASCII fone: for Network Interchange wee For conoretensss, ve suggest the use of standard 7-bit $6} ye I becvio? in an 8 bit b high bit de luge this ; stan: 1 on the attached nage, eoptes fren SAS X3,4-1968, Wis code will be used over HOS-LUS? primary Lreak characters will be defined by the receiving re~ host, €.g. SRE uses "." (ASCIL X'2E" or 2/14) a3 the end-of-line character, vhere as UCLA uses X'0D' or 0/13 (carriage return).1. Scope ‘This coded character set is to be used for the general interchange of information among information processing, systems, communication systems, and associated equipment 2, Standard Code 0 oO o 0 He 1 V 1 % a 4 y % Ae 1 Be eli 0 ojo Pp ofololi A Q ° q ofof1fo| 8 R [ob : ojojiya c Ss c s Folrjolo o{7fa4 t ofifoly —e | vu e [iv [olifijo ei{vife vi ofati|t G WofLog | ow | Tjo} oo H x h x rfojolt 1 Y i y rfofifo J Zz j = Vpopay K t k fe rfrfolo L \ ' 1 rhrfolt Mss lee em ) Titi fo : N i A 4 ppp [ss fous | 7 [2 fo fi].3. Character Representation and Code Identification The standard 7-bit character representation, with b, the high-order bit and b, the low-order bit, is shown below: EXAMPLE: The bit represent for the cheracter"K,” posifoned in column 4, row 11, is bbe be ob bb by BeAr a The code table position for the cheracter “K" may also be represented by the notation “colurin 4, » row 1] "or alternatively a5 "4/11." The decimal equivalent of the binary number formed by bits by, bey and by, collectively, forms the column number, and the decimal equivalent of the binary number formed by bits bg, by, by, and by, collectively, forms the row number, ‘The standard code may be identified by the use of the notation ASCII or USASCIL The notation ASCI] (pronounced as'-key} or USASCII (pronounced you-ses'-key) should or dinerily be token to mean the code prescribed by the latest issue of the standard. To explicitly desig- nate « particular (psthaps prior} issue, the last two digits of the year of issue may be appended, as, “ASCII 63" or “USASCII 63". 4. Legend 4.1 Control Characters NUL Null DLE Data Link Escape (CC) SOH Start of Heading (CC) BCI Device Control 1 STX Start of Test (CC} C2 Device Controt 2 ETX End of Test (CC) C3 Device Control 3 EOT Fnd of Transmission (CC) C4 Device Contral 4 (Stop) ENQ Enquiry (CC) NAK Negative Acknowledge (CC) ACK Acknowledge (CC) SYN. Synchronous Idle (CC) BEL Bell (audible or attention signsl) ETB End of Transmission Block (CC) 8S Backspace (FE) CAN Cancel HT Horizontal Tabulation (pimched eard skip)(FE) EMA End of Mediom LF Line Feed (FE) SUB Substitute VI Vertical Tabulation (FE) ESC Escape FF Forin Feed (FE) FS. File Separator (1S) (CR Carriage Return (FE) GS Group Separator (IS) SO Shift Our RS Record Separstor (IS) St Shift In US Unit Separator (IS) DEL Delete! NOTE: (CC) Communication Conteel (FE) Forwat Tiietor {IS} Infammstinn Se Mn th grit teasty DEL is nota control charveter, (See 8.2.)wad 4.2 Graphic Characters USAS Soa ioss | Getunin/ow Symtok meee ey) SP Space (Normally Non-Printing) eee ; 9n 1 Exclamation Point | 22 Quotnifon Marks (Diaeresis*) | # Number Sign? ae | ov $ Dollar Sign : -7 | 25 % Percent 5 2/6 & Ampersand an + -Apostrophe (Closing Single Quotation Mark; Acute Accent*) | 2/8 ( Opening Parenthesis | 29 ) Closing Parenthesis | eno Asterisk | 2m + Phos lone, Comma (Cedille? } | ons ~ — Hyphen (Minus) es eee | ans 7 Stam | sno 2 Colon Pea ipaaeeeeeeeeeseda | 3ae < Less Then i 33 = Equals | na > Grester Than | sas. 2 Question Mark i 4p © Commercial At? i sa 1 Opening Bracket | 5/12 \ Reverse Slant? ; 53 1 Closing Bracker® 1 sna * Circurftex?® a eHS/ig) Underline i 60 > Grave Accent? (Opening Single Quotation Mark) : 7A 1 Opening Brace? m2 1 Vertical Line ' ans 1 Closing Brace? Wns ~ — Overlinc® (Tildets General Aecent®) iy Appendix, lterinng that there agree soy be weed in position 9/8,xa 5. Definitions 5.1 General * {CC} Communteation Control: A functional char acter intended to control or facilitate transmission of + information over communication networks, (FE) Format Effector: A functional charecter w! controls the layout or positioning of information in prints ing or display devices. (1S) Information Separators A character which is used to separate and qualily information in a logical sense. There is « group of four such characters, which are to be used in « hierarchical order. 5.2 Control Characters NUL (Null); The all-zeros character which may serve to accomplish time fill and. media fil. SOH (Start of Heading}: A communication contro! character used at the beginning of @ sequence of char- acters which constitute a machinesensible address oF routing information. Such a sequence is referred to as the “heading.” An STX character has the effect of termi- nating « heading. STX {Start of Text): A communication control char- acter which precedes a sequence of characters that is to be treated as an entity and entively transmitted through to the ubtimate destination. Such & sequence is referred to as “text.” STX may be used to terntinate a sequence of characters started by SOH. EPX (End of Text): A communication control char- acter used to terminate a sequence of characters started with STX and transmitted es an entity. EOT (End of Transmission}: A communication con- trol character used to indicate the conclusion of a trans: mission, which may have contained one or more texts and any associated headings. ENQ (Enquiry): A communication control character ‘used in data communication systems as 2 request for @ response from a remote station. It may be used as a “Who Are You" (WRU) to obtain identification, or may be used to obtain station status, or both. ACK (Acknowledge): A communicstion control chas- acter transmitted by a receiver as an affirmative response to a sender. BEL (Bell): A choracter for use when there is # need to call for human attention. It may control alarm or attention devices. BS (Backepace): A format effector which controls the movement of the printing position one printing spece backward on the same printing line. (Applicable slso to display devices.) nr ¢ 1} Tabulation): A format effector which contrals the movement of the printing position to the next in a soris of predetermined positions along the printing line. (Applicable also to display devices and the skip function on punched cards.) USA STANDARD CODE LF (Line Feed): A format effector which controls the movement of the printing position to the next print- {ng line. (Applicable also to display devices.) Where ap- propriate, this character may have the meaning “New Line” (NL}, a format effector which controls the move- ment of the printing point to the first printing position fon the neat pripting line. Use of this convention requires agreement between sender and recipient of date. ‘YT (Vertical Tabulation): A format effector which controls the movement of the printing position to the next in @ series of predetermined printing lines. (Ap- plicable also to display devices.) FF (Form Feed): A format effector which controls the movement of the printing position to the First pre- * Actermined printing Tine on the next form or page. (Ap- plicable also to display devices.) 1 (Carriage Return): A format effector which con trols the movement of the printing position to the first printing position on the same printing line. (Applicabl: also to display devices.) SO (Shift Out): A control character indicating that the code combinations which follow shall be interpreted as outside of the character set of the standard code table until « Shift In character is reeched. SI (Shift In}z A control character indicating that the code combinations which follow shall be interpreted according to the standard code table. DLE (Data Link Es ‘A communication control character which will change the meaning of a Kimis number of contiguously following characters. It is used exclusively to provide supplementary controls in data communication networks. DC1, BC2, BC3, BC# {Device Controls}: Characters for the control of ancillary devices associated with data processing or telecommunication systems, more espe- cislly switching devices “on” or “off.” (If a single “stop” ‘control is required to interrupt or turn off ancillary de- vices, BC4 is the preferred assignment.) NAK (Negative Acknowledge): A communication control character transmitted by a receiver as a negetive response to the sender. SYN (Synchronous Idle}: A communication control character used by a synchronous transmission system the absence of nny other character to provide a signal fora which synchronism may be achieved or retained. EPB (End of Traacmission Block): A communi- cation control character used to indicate the end of a block of data for communication purposes. ETD is used for blocking data where the block structure is not nee- essurily related to the processing format, CAN (Cancel): A control character used to indieate that the data with which itis sent is in error or ie to be disregarded. EM (End of Mediuzalt A control charactor asso ciated with the sent data which may be used to identify the physical end of the medium or the end of the used, ‘or wanted, portion of information recorded on a inediFOR INFORMATION INTERCHANGE (The position of this character does not necessarily cor respond to the physical end of the medium.) SUD (Substitute: A cheracter that may be sub- stituted for a character which is determined to be ine valid or in ervor. ESC (Eseapc}: A control character intended to pro- vide code extension (supplementary characters) in gen- eral informstion interchange. The Eseape character iiself is a prefix affecting the interpretation of a limited number of contiguously following characters FS (File Separator), GS (Group Separator}, RS (Record Sepzrator}, end US (Unit Separator}: These information separators may be used within data in op- tional fashion, except that thefr hierarchical relation- ship shall be: FS is the most inclusive, then GS, then RS, and US is least inclusive. (The content and length of a File, Group, Record, or Unit are not specified.) DEL (Delete): This charactor is used primarily to “erase” or “oblitecate” erroncous or unwanted char acters in perforated tape. (In the strict sense, DEL is not a control character.) 5.3 Graphtec Characters SP {Spree}: A normally non-printing graphic cher- acter used to separste words, It is also a format effector which controls the movensent of the printing position, ‘one printing position forward. (Applicable elso to dis- play devices.) x34 6. General Considerations 6.1 This standard does not define the mezns by which the coded sct is to be recorded in any physical medium, nor does it include any redundancy or define techniques for error control. Further, this standard does:not define data communication character structure, dats eomrauni cation formats, code extension techniques, or graphic representation of control characters. 6.2 Deviations from the stendard may create serious difficulties in information interchange and sLould be used only with full cognizance of the partics involved. 63 The relative sequence of any two characters, when used as a basis for collation, is defined by their binary values. 6.4 No specific meaning is prescribed for any of the graphics in the code table except thet which fs un stood Ly the ustrs. Furthermore, this standard does not specify a type style for the printing or display of the vatious graphic characters. In specific applications, it may be desireble to employ distinctive styling of indi- vidual graphice to facilitate their use for specific pure poses as, for example, to stylize the graphics in code positions 2/1 and 5/14 into those frequently associsted logical OR (1) and logical NOT 17, respectively. 65 The appendises to this etandard contain additionel information on the design and use of this code.