Linux: Finding ASCII code of a key
đ Wiki page | đ Last updated: Apr 4, 2024You can use showkey
command from kbd
package to quickly find out an ASCII code of a key:
showkey -a
After that you you can press any number of keys to find out their ASCII codes (you can press CTRL+d to terminate the program).
Note: kbd
package should be installed out-of-the-box on most Linux distributions, if you don't have it for some reason, you can install it with:
# deb-based (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Raspbian, Kali, etc.)
apt install kbd
# rpm-based (Fedora, CentOS, etc.)
dnf install kbd
# Arch
pacman -S kbd
# Alpine
apk add kbd
Alternatives
Alternatively, you can use the man page of ascii
command (this should work both on Linux on BSD):
man ascii
I'll include the tables here for convenience:
Oct Dec Hex Char â Oct Dec Hex Char
âââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââŧâââââââââââââââââââââââââââ
000 0 00 NUL '\0' (null character) â 100 64 40 @
001 1 01 SOH (start of heading) â 101 65 41 A
002 2 02 STX (start of text) â 102 66 42 B
003 3 03 ETX (end of text) â 103 67 43 C
004 4 04 EOT (end of transmission) â 104 68 44 D
005 5 05 ENQ (enquiry) â 105 69 45 E
006 6 06 ACK (acknowledge) â 106 70 46 F
007 7 07 BEL '\a' (bell) â 107 71 47 G
010 8 08 BS '\b' (backspace) â 110 72 48 H
011 9 09 HT '\t' (horizontal tab) â 111 73 49 I
012 10 0A LF '\n' (new line) â 112 74 4A J
013 11 0B VT '\v' (vertical tab) â 113 75 4B K
014 12 0C FF '\f' (form feed) â 114 76 4C L
015 13 0D CR '\r' (carriage ret) â 115 77 4D M
016 14 0E SO (shift out) â 116 78 4E N
017 15 0F SI (shift in) â 117 79 4F O
020 16 10 DLE (data link escape) â 120 80 50 P
021 17 11 DC1 (device control 1) â 121 81 51 Q
022 18 12 DC2 (device control 2) â 122 82 52 R
023 19 13 DC3 (device control 3) â 123 83 53 S
024 20 14 DC4 (device control 4) â 124 84 54 T
025 21 15 NAK (negative ack.) â 125 85 55 U
026 22 16 SYN (synchronous idle) â 126 86 56 V
027 23 17 ETB (end of trans. blk) â 127 87 57 W
030 24 18 CAN (cancel) â 130 88 58 X
031 25 19 EM (end of medium) â 131 89 59 Y
032 26 1A SUB (substitute) â 132 90 5A Z
033 27 1B ESC (escape) â 133 91 5B [
034 28 1C FS (file separator) â 134 92 5C \ '\\'
035 29 1D GS (group separator) â 135 93 5D ]
036 30 1E RS (record separator) â 136 94 5E ^
037 31 1F US (unit separator) â 137 95 5F _
040 32 20 SPACE â 140 96 60 `
041 33 21 ! â 141 97 61 a
042 34 22 " â 142 98 62 b
043 35 23 # â 143 99 63 c
044 36 24 $ â 144 100 64 d
045 37 25 % â 145 101 65 e
046 38 26 & â 146 102 66 f
047 39 27 ' â 147 103 67 g
050 40 28 ( â 150 104 68 h
051 41 29 ) â 151 105 69 i
052 42 2A * â 152 106 6A j
053 43 2B + â 153 107 6B k
054 44 2C , â 154 108 6C l
055 45 2D - â 155 109 6D m
056 46 2E . â 156 110 6E n
057 47 2F / â 157 111 6F o
060 48 30 0 â 160 112 70 p
061 49 31 1 â 161 113 71 q
062 50 32 2 â 162 114 72 r
063 51 33 3 â 163 115 73 s
064 52 34 4 â 164 116 74 t
065 53 35 5 â 165 117 75 u
066 54 36 6 â 166 118 76 v
067 55 37 7 â 167 119 77 w
070 56 38 8 â 170 120 78 x
071 57 39 9 â 171 121 79 y
072 58 3A : â 172 122 7A z
073 59 3B ; â 173 123 7B {
074 60 3C < â 174 124 7C |
075 61 3D = â 175 125 7D }
076 62 3E > â 176 126 7E ~
077 63 3F ? â 177 127 7F DEL
Compact tables in hex and decimal:
2 3 4 5 6 7 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
------------- ---------------------------------
0: 0 @ P ` p 0: ( 2 < F P Z d n x
1: ! 1 A Q a q 1: ) 3 = G Q [ e o y
2: " 2 B R b r 2: * 4 > H R \ f p z
3: # 3 C S c s 3: ! + 5 ? I S ] g q {
4: $ 4 D T d t 4: " , 6 @ J T ^ h r |
5: % 5 E U e u 5: # - 7 A K U _ i s }
6: & 6 F V f v 6: $ . 8 B L V ` j t ~
7: ' 7 G W g w 7: % / 9 C M W a k u DEL
8: ( 8 H X h x 8: & 0 : D N X b l v
9: ) 9 I Y i y 9: ' 1 ; E O Y c m w
A: * : J Z j z
B: + ; K [ k {
C: , < L \ l |
D: - = M ] m }
E: . > N ^ n ~
F: / ? O _ o DEL
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