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HTML Character Sets

To display an HTML page correctly, a web browser must know which character set to use.

From ASCII to UTF-8

ASCII was the first character encoding standard. ASCII defined 128 different characters that could be used on the internet: numbers (0-9), English letters (A-Z), and some special characters like ! $ + - ( ) @ < > .

ISO-8859-1 was the default character set for HTML 4. This character set supported 256 different character codes. HTML 4 also supported UTF-8.

ANSI (Windows-1252) was the original Windows character set. ANSI is identical to ISO-8859-1, except that ANSI has 32 extra characters.

The HTML5 specification encourages web developers to use the UTF-8 character set, which covers almost all of the characters and symbols in the world!

The HTML charset Attribute

To display an HTML page correctly, a web browser must know the character set used in the page.

This is specified in the <meta> tag:

<meta charset="UTF-8">

The ASCII Character Set

ASCII uses the values from 0 to 31 (and 127) for control characters.

ASCII uses the values from 32 to 126 for letters, digits, and symbols.

ASCII does not use the values from 128 to 255.

The ANSI Character Set (Windows-1252)

ANSI is identical to ASCII for the values from 0 to 127.

ANSI has a proprietary set of characters for the values from 128 to 159.

ANSI is identical to UTF-8 for the values from 160 to 255.

The ISO-8859-1 Character Set

ISO-8859-1 is identical to ASCII for the values from 0 to 127.

ISO-8859-1 does not use the values from 128 to 159.

ISO-8859-1 is identical to UTF-8 for the values from 160 to 255.

The UTF-8 Character Set

UTF-8 is identical to ASCII for the values from 0 to 127.

UTF-8 does not use the values from 128 to 159.

UTF-8 is identical to both ANSI and 8859-1 for the values from 160 to 255.

UTF-8 continues from the value 256 with more than 10 000 different characters.

Differences Between Character Sets

The following table displays the differences between the character sets described above:

NumbASCIIANSI8859UTF-8Description
32space
33!!!!exclamation mark
34""""quotation mark
35####number sign
36$$$$dollar sign
37%%%%percent sign
38&&&&ampersand
39''''apostrophe
40((((left parenthesis
41))))right parenthesis
42****asterisk
43++++plus sign
44,,,,comma
45----hyphen-minus
46....full stop
47////solidus
480000digit zero
491111digit one
502222digit two
513333digit three
524444digit four
535555digit five
546666digit six
557777digit seven
568888digit eight
579999digit nine
58::::colon
59;;;;semicolon
60<<<<less-than sign
61====equals sign
62>>>>greater-than sign
63????question mark
64@@@@commercial at
65AAAALatin capital letter A
66BBBBLatin capital letter B
67CCCCLatin capital letter C
68DDDDLatin capital letter D
69EEEELatin capital letter E
70FFFFLatin capital letter F
71GGGGLatin capital letter G
72HHHHLatin capital letter H
73IIIILatin capital letter I
74JJJJLatin capital letter J
75KKKKLatin capital letter K
76LLLLLatin capital letter L
77MMMMLatin capital letter M
78NNNNLatin capital letter N
79OOOOLatin capital letter O
80PPPPLatin capital letter P
81QQQQLatin capital letter Q
82RRRRLatin capital letter R
83SSSSLatin capital letter S
84TTTTLatin capital letter T
85UUUULatin capital letter U
86VVVVLatin capital letter V
87WWWWLatin capital letter W
88XXXXLatin capital letter X
89YYYYLatin capital letter Y
90ZZZZLatin capital letter Z
91[[[[left square bracket
92\ \ \ \ reverse solidus
93]]]]right square bracket
94^^^^circumflex accent
95____low line
96````grave accent
97aaaaLatin small letter a
98bbbbLatin small letter b
99ccccLatin small letter c
100ddddLatin small letter d
101eeeeLatin small letter e
102ffffLatin small letter f
103ggggLatin small letter g
104hhhhLatin small letter h
105iiiiLatin small letter i
106jjjjLatin small letter j
107kkkkLatin small letter k
108llllLatin small letter l
109mmmmLatin small letter m
110nnnnLatin small letter n
111ooooLatin small letter o
112ppppLatin small letter p
113qqqqLatin small letter q
114rrrrLatin small letter r
115ssssLatin small letter s
116ttttLatin small letter t
117uuuuLatin small letter u
118vvvvLatin small letter v
119wwwwLatin small letter w
120xxxxLatin small letter x
121yyyyLatin small letter y
122zzzzLatin small letter z
123{{{{left curly bracket
124||||vertical line
125}}}}right curly bracket
126~~~~tilde
127DEL
128euro sign
129NOT USED
130single low-9 quotation mark
131ƒLatin small letter f with hook
132double low-9 quotation mark
133horizontal ellipsis
134dagger
135double dagger
136ˆmodifier letter circumflex accent
137per mille sign
138ŠLatin capital letter S with caron
139single left-pointing angle quotation mark
140ŒLatin capital ligature OE
141NOT USED
142ŽLatin capital letter Z with caron
143NOT USED
144NOT USED
145left single quotation mark
146right single quotation mark
147left double quotation mark
148right double quotation mark
149bullet
150en dash
151em dash
152˜small tilde
153trade mark sign
154šLatin small letter s with caron
155single right-pointing angle quotation mark
156œLatin small ligature oe
157NOT USED
158žLatin small letter z with caron
159ŸLatin capital letter Y with diaeresis
160no-break space
161¡¡¡inverted exclamation mark
162¢¢¢cent sign
163£££pound sign
164¤¤¤currency sign
165¥¥¥yen sign
166¦¦¦broken bar
167§§§section sign
168¨¨¨diaeresis
169©©©copyright sign
170ªªªfeminine ordinal indicator
171«««left-pointing double angle quotation mark
172¬¬¬not sign
173­­­soft hyphen
174®®®registered sign
175¯¯¯macron
176°°°degree sign
177±±±plus-minus sign
178²²²superscript two
179³³³superscript three
180´´´acute accent
181µµµmicro sign
182pilcrow sign
183···middle dot
184¸¸¸cedilla
185¹¹¹superscript one
186ºººmasculine ordinal indicator
187»»»right-pointing double angle quotation mark
188¼¼¼vulgar fraction one quarter
189½½½vulgar fraction one half
190¾¾¾vulgar fraction three quarters
191¿¿¿inverted question mark
192ÀÀÀLatin capital letter A with grave
193ÁÁÁLatin capital letter A with acute
194ÂÂÂLatin capital letter A with circumflex
195ÃÃÃLatin capital letter A with tilde
196ÄÄÄLatin capital letter A with diaeresis
197ÅÅÅLatin capital letter A with ring above
198ÆÆÆLatin capital letter AE
199ÇÇÇLatin capital letter C with cedilla
200ÈÈÈLatin capital letter E with grave
201ÉÉÉLatin capital letter E with acute
202ÊÊÊLatin capital letter E with circumflex
203ËËËLatin capital letter E with diaeresis
204ÌÌÌLatin capital letter I with grave
205ÍÍÍLatin capital letter I with acute
206ÎÎÎLatin capital letter I with circumflex
207ÏÏÏLatin capital letter I with diaeresis
208ÐÐÐLatin capital letter Eth
209ÑÑÑLatin capital letter N with tilde
210ÒÒÒLatin capital letter O with grave
211ÓÓÓLatin capital letter O with acute
212ÔÔÔLatin capital letter O with circumflex
213ÕÕÕLatin capital letter O with tilde
214ÖÖÖLatin capital letter O with diaeresis
215×××multiplication sign
216ØØØLatin capital letter O with stroke
217ÙÙÙLatin capital letter U with grave
218ÚÚÚLatin capital letter U with acute
219ÛÛÛLatin capital letter U with circumflex
220ÜÜÜLatin capital letter U with diaeresis
221ÝÝÝLatin capital letter Y with acute
222ÞÞÞLatin capital letter Thorn
223ßßßLatin small letter sharp s
224àààLatin small letter a with grave
225áááLatin small letter a with acute
226âââLatin small letter a with circumflex
227ãããLatin small letter a with tilde
228äääLatin small letter a with diaeresis
229åååLatin small letter a with ring above
230æææLatin small letter ae
231çççLatin small letter c with cedilla
232èèèLatin small letter e with grave
233éééLatin small letter e with acute
234êêêLatin small letter e with circumflex
235ëëëLatin small letter e with diaeresis
236ìììLatin small letter i with grave
237íííLatin small letter i with acute
238îîîLatin small letter i with circumflex
239ïïïLatin small letter i with diaeresis
240ðððLatin small letter eth
241ñññLatin small letter n with tilde
242òòòLatin small letter o with grave
243óóóLatin small letter o with acute
244ôôôLatin small letter o with circumflex
245õõõLatin small letter o with tilde
246öööLatin small letter o with diaeresis
247÷÷÷division sign
248øøøLatin small letter o with stroke
249ùùùLatin small letter u with grave
250úúúLatin small letter u with acute
251ûûûLatin small letter with circumflex
252üüüLatin small letter u with diaeresis
253ýýýLatin small letter y with acute
254þþþLatin small letter thorn
255ÿÿÿLatin small letter y with diaeresis