SIXBIT Character Code Reference 

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SIXBIT is a character coding system used in earlier Digital Equipment Corporation computers, such as the PDP-10, DECsystem-10 and DECsystem-20. Combined with the 36-bit word size of these computers, SIXBIT coding allows six characters to be stored per word.

SIXBIT also happens to have the same characters as the first 64 printable characters of the ASCII coding system, allowing for direct conversion between the two systems. A SIXBIT character can be converted to ASCII by adding 32 decimal (20 hexadecimal).

The assignments are shown in the following table.

Least Significant Bits
0
0000
[00]
1
0001
[01]
2
0010
[02]
3
0011
[03]
4
0100
[04]
5
0101
[05]
6
0110
[06]
7
0111
[07]
M
o
s
t

S
i
g
n
i
f
i
c
a
n
t

B
i
t
s

0
000
[00]
SP
(0)
00
[00]
!
(1)
01
[01]
"
(2)
02
[02]
#
(3)
03
[03]
$
(4)
04
[04]
%
(5)
05
[05]
&
(6)
06
[06]
'
(7)
07
[07]

1
001
[10]
(
(8)
08
[10]
)
(9)
09
[11]
*
(10)
0A
[12]
+
(11)
0B
[13]
,
(12)
0C
[14]
-
(13)
0D
[15]
.
(14)
0E
[16]
/
(15)
0F
[17]

2
010
[20]
0
(16)
10
[20]
1
(17)
11
[21]
2
(18)
12
[22]
3
(19)
13
[23]
4
(20)
14
[24]
5
(21)
15
[25]
6
(22)
16
[26]
7
(23)
17
[27]

3
011
[30]
8
(24)
18
[30]
9
(25)
19
[31]
:
(26)
1A
[32]
;
(27)
1B
[33]
<
(28)
1C
[34]
=
(29)
1D
[35]
>
(30)
1E
[36]
?
(31)
1F
[37]

4
100
[40]
@
(32)
20
[40]
A
(33)
21
[41]
B
(34)
22
[42]
C
(35)
23
[43]
D
(36)
24
[44]
E
(37)
25
[45]
F
(38)
26
[46]
G
(39)
27
[47]

5
101
[50]
H
(40)
28
[50]
I
(41)
29
[51]
J
(42)
2A
[52]
K
(43)
2B
[53]
L
(44)
2C
[54]
M
(45)
2D
[55]
N
(46)
2E
[56]
O
(47)
2F
[57]

6
110
[60]
P
(48)
30
[60]
Q
(49)
31
[61]
R
(50)
32
[62]
S
(51)
33
[63]
T
(52)
34
[64]
U
(53)
35
[65]
V
(54)
36
[66]
W
(55)
37
[67]

7
111
[70]
X
(56)
38
[70]
Y
(57)
39
[71]
Z
(58)
3A
[72]
[
(59)
3B
[73]
\
(60)
3C
[74]
]
(61)
3D
[75]
^
(62)
3E
[76]
_
(63)
3F
[77]
(Information on printing color tables on color printers can be found here.)

In this table, the code or symbol name is shown on the first line, followed by the decimal value for that code or symbol, followed by the hexadecimal value and then the octal value. The binary, hexdecimal and octal value can also be computed based on the row and column where the code or symbol resides, or directly from the hexadecimal value. For example, the character "B" has the binary value "001 100", with "001" taken from the row and "100" taken from the column. Similarly, the "W" letter has the binary value "100 001".

The background color for each code or symbol indicates the category that the code resides in. Orange indicates basic punctuation and symbols. Yellow indicates numeric digits. Green indicates the uppercase letters.


Related Topics

American Standard Code for Information Interchange Reference (ASCII) (HTML)

RADIX50 Character Code Reference (HTML)

Extended Binary Coded Decimal Information Code Reference (EBCDIC) (HTML)

Baudot (5-Level) Character Code Reference (HTML)

Return to the Telecommunications Reference Index (HTML) 


[Copyright 1979,2002,2003,2004 Frank Durda IV, All Rights Reserved.
Mirroring of any material on this site in any form is expressly prohibited.
The official web site for this material is:  http://nemesis.lonestar.org
Contact this address for use clearances: clearance at nemesis.lonestar.org
Comments and queries to this address: web_reference at nemesis.lonestar.org]

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