ASCII·SO
14
SO
0x0E · 0001110

ASCII 14 — the SO character

Not a visible character

SO is control code 14, hex 0E. You type it as ^N, and it draws nothing on screen.

Characters that draw nothing and instead tell the device to do something.

What this control code did

Shift out

Device · Codes that rang a bell or switched the character set on a device.

Seven bits

ASCII is seven bits wide, which is why there are 128 of them. The eighth bit was long left for parity.

0001110

One bit — the sixth, worth 32 — separates the cases. Off gives a capital, on gives a lowercase letter.

Kind
Control
Decimal
14
Hexadecimal
0x0E
Octal
016
Binary
0001110
HTML entity

URL encoding
%0E
CSS escape
\E
Ctrl key
^N

The chart

Eight columns for the top three bits, sixteen rows for the bottom four. The capitals column sits right beside the lowercase one — that is the shape of the table.

Codes either side

How to read this

  • Add 32 to a capital and you get the lowercase letter — one bit flips.
  • Digits start at 48, so subtracting 48 from the code gives the number.
  • Holding Ctrl clears the top three bits — that is why Ctrl+I is a tab.
  • Everything under 32, plus 127, draws nothing. Those show their abbreviation instead.

Frequently asked questions

Q. What is the ASCII code for SO?

Decimal 14, hex 0E, octal 016, binary 0001110.

Q. How do I write SO in HTML?

As .

Q. How does it go in a URL?

It is encoded as %0E.

Q. How do I type SO?

^N.