GSM Alphabet

Standard SMS can contain 160 characters. However, the characters typed must be part of the so-called 7-bit default alphabet as specified by GSM 3.38. You can see in the table below that this alphabet contains all ASCII characters and some accented characters.

For example, u umlaut (ü) and e with grave (è), are in this set. Please study the table below to have a complete overview. Using any character not in this set, will make the SMS a Unicode SMS and limit the length of the SMS to 70 characters.

Note: a few characters actually count as two characters. These characters are:

{}[]~|\ and the Euro symbol: €

You can also see that in the table below in the hex column. These characters need to be escaped.

Below is the 7 bit default alphabet as specified by GSM 03.38. The corresponding ISO-8859-1 decimal codes are shown in the rightmost column. Note that the euro sign (€) is also included.

HexDecCharacter nameCharacter ISO-8859-1 DEC
0×000COMMERCIAL AT @ 64
0×011POUND SIGN £ 163
0×022DOLLAR SIGN $ 36
0×033YEN SIGN ¥ 165
0×044LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH GRAVE è 232
0×055LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE é 233
0×066LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH GRAVE ù 249
0×077LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH GRAVE ì 236
0×088LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH GRAVE ò 242
0×099LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA Ç 199
0×0A10LINE FEED 10
0×0B11LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH STROKE Ø 216
0×0C12LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH STROKE ø 248
0×0D13CARRIAGE RETURN 13
0×0E14LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE Å 197
0×0F15LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE å 229
0×1016GREEK CAPITAL LETTER DELTA Δ
0×1117LOW LINE _ 95
0×1218GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PHI Φ
0×1319GREEK CAPITAL LETTER GAMMA Γ
0×1420GREEK CAPITAL LETTER LAMBDA Λ
0×1521GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA Ω
0×1622GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI Π
0×1723GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PSI Ψ
0×1824GREEK CAPITAL LETTER SIGMA Σ
0×1925GREEK CAPITAL LETTER THETA Θ
0×1A26GREEK CAPITAL LETTER XI Ξ
0×1B27ESCAPE TO EXTENSION TABLE
0×1B0A27 10FORM FEED 12
0×1B1427 20CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT ^ 94
0×1B2827 40LEFT CURLY BRACKET { 123
0×1B2927 41RIGHT CURLY BRACKET } 125
0×1B2F27 47REVERSE SOLIDUS (BACKSLASH) \ 92
0×1B3C27 60LEFT SQUARE BRACKET [ 91
0x1B3D27 61TILDE ~ 126
0x1B3E27 62RIGHT SQUARE BRACKET ] 93
0×1B4027 64VERTICAL BAR | 124
0×1B6527 101EURO SIGN 164 (ISO-8859-15)
0×1C28LATIN CAPITAL LETTER AE Æ 198
0×1D29LATIN SMALL LETTER AE æ 230
0×1E30LATIN SMALL LETTER SHARP S (German) ß 223
0×1F31LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH ACUTE É 201
0×2032SPACE 32
0×2133EXCLAMATION MARK ! 33
0×2234QUOTATION MARK " 34
0×2335NUMBER SIGN # 35
0×2436CURRENCY SIGN ¤ 164 (ISO-8859-1)
0×2537PERCENT SIGN % 37
0×2638AMPERSAND & 38
0×2739APOSTROPHE ' 39
0×2840LEFT PARENTHESIS ( 40
0×2941RIGHT PARENTHESIS ) 41
0×2A42ASTERISK * 42
0×2B43PLUS SIGN + 43
0×2C44COMMA , 44
0×2D45HYPHEN-MINUS - 45
0×2E46FULL STOP . 46
0×2F47SOLIDUS (SLASH) / 47
0×3048DIGIT ZERO 0 48
0×3149DIGIT ONE 1 49
0×3250DIGIT TWO 2 50
0×3351DIGIT THREE 3 51
0×3452DIGIT FOUR 4 52
0×3553DIGIT FIVE 5 53
0×3654DIGIT SIX 6 54
0×3755DIGIT SEVEN 7 55
0×3856DIGIT EIGHT 8 56
0×3957DIGIT NINE 9 57
0×3A58COLON : 58
0×3B59SEMICOLON ; 59
0×3C60LESS-THAN SIGN < 60
0×3D61EQUALS SIGN = 61
0×3E62GREATER-THAN SIGN > 62
0×3F63QUESTION MARK ? 63
0×4064INVERTED EXCLAMATION MARK ¡ 161
0×4165LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A A 65
0×4266LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B B 66
0×4367LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C C 67
0×4468LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D D 68
0×4569LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E E 69
0×4670LATIN CAPITAL LETTER F F 70
0×4771LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G G 71
0×4872LATIN CAPITAL LETTER H H 72
0×4973LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I I 73
0×4A74LATIN CAPITAL LETTER J J 74
0×4B75LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K K 75
0×4C76LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L L 76
0×4D77LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M M 77
0×4E78LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N N 78
0×4F79LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O O 79
0×5080LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P P 80
0×5181LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Q Q 81
0×5282LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R R 82
0×5383LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S S 83
0×5484LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T T 84
0×5585LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U U 85
0×5686LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V V 86
0×5787LATIN CAPITAL LETTER W W 87
0×5888LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X X 88
0×5989LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y Y 89
0×5A90LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z Z 90
0×5B91LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS Ä 196
0×5C92LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS Ö 214
0×5D93LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH TILDE Ñ 209
0×5E94LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS Ü 220
0×5F95SECTION SIGN § 167
0×6096INVERTED QUESTION MARK ¿ 191
0×6197LATIN SMALL LETTER A a 97
0×6298LATIN SMALL LETTER B b 98
0×6399LATIN SMALL LETTER C c 99
0×64100LATIN SMALL LETTER D d 100
0×65101LATIN SMALL LETTER E e 101
0×66102LATIN SMALL LETTER F f 102
0×67103LATIN SMALL LETTER G g 103
0×68104LATIN SMALL LETTER H h 104
0×69105LATIN SMALL LETTER I i 105
0×6A106LATIN SMALL LETTER J j 106
0×6B107LATIN SMALL LETTER K k 107
0×6C108LATIN SMALL LETTER L l 108
0×6D109LATIN SMALL LETTER M m 109
0×6E110LATIN SMALL LETTER N n 110
0×6F111LATIN SMALL LETTER O o 111
0×70112LATIN SMALL LETTER P p 112
0×71113LATIN SMALL LETTER Q q 113
0×72114LATIN SMALL LETTER R r 114
0×73115LATIN SMALL LETTER S s 115
0×74116LATIN SMALL LETTER T t 116
0×75117LATIN SMALL LETTER U u 117
0×76118LATIN SMALL LETTER V v 118
0×77119LATIN SMALL LETTER W w 119
0×78120LATIN SMALL LETTER X x 120
0×79121LATIN SMALL LETTER Y y 121
0×7A122LATIN SMALL LETTER Z z 122
0×7B123LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS ä 228
0×7C124LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS ö 246
0×7D125LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH TILDE ñ 241
0×7E126LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS ü 252
0×7F127LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE à 224