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Morse Orbit

Reference

Morse code alphabet

Every character in International Morse code. Search by letter, name or pattern, and select any card to hear it.

Select any character to see its pattern and hear it.

What is the Morse code alphabet?

The International Morse code alphabet assigns each of the 26 Latin letters, the accented É, the ten digits and thirteen punctuation marks a unique pattern of one to six dots and dashes. Common letters get short codes — E is a single dot and T a single dash — so everyday text is quick to send.

The table on this page follows Recommendation ITU-R M.1677-1, the current international standard. Codes listed under “non-standard” below are widely seen online but are not part of that standard, which is why the translator does not convert them.

Morse code numbers

Every digit is exactly five elements long. 1 to 5 start with dots and switch to dashes (1 = one dot then four dashes), while 6 to 9 start with dashes and switch to dots; 0 is five dashes. Once you notice the pattern, the digits are among the easiest characters to learn.

Numbers 0–9
CharacterCodeNotes
1.----dot dash dash dash dash
2..---dot dot dash dash dash
3...--dot dot dot dash dash
4....-dot dot dot dot dash
5.....dot dot dot dot dot
6-....dash dot dot dot dot
7--...dash dash dot dot dot
8---..dash dash dash dot dot
9----.dash dash dash dash dot
0-----dash dash dash dash dash
ITU punctuation
CharacterCodeNotes
..-.-.-Full stop (period)
,--..--Comma
:---...Colon
?..--..Question mark
'.----.Apostrophe
--....-Hyphen or dash
/-..-.Fraction bar or slash
(-.--.Left bracket
)-.--.-Right bracket
".-..-.Quotation marks
=-...-Double hyphen (equals)
+.-.-.Cross or addition sign
@.--.-.Commercial at

Separate tables

Prosigns and non-standard codes

These are kept apart from the alphabet so the two are never confused.

Procedural signals (prosigns)
CharacterCodeNotes
SOS...---...Distress signal — ITU Radio Regulations
Error........Error — eight dots — ITU-R M.1677-1
AR.-.-.End of message (same code as +) — ITU-R M.1677-1
AS.-...Wait — ITU-R M.1677-1
KA-.-.-Starting signal — ITU-R M.1677-1
SK...-.-End of work — ITU-R M.1677-1
SN...-.Understood — ITU-R M.1677-1
K-.-Invitation to transmit — ITU-R M.1677-1
BT-...-Separator between parts (same code as =) — Amateur practice
KN-.--.Go ahead, named station only — Amateur practice

A prosign is sent as one unbroken run with no letter gap between its parts, which is why SOS is written ...---.... The translator treats “SOS” as three letters; the SOS page plays both forms.

Not in ITU-R M.1677-1
CharacterCodeNotes
!-.-.--Exclamation mark
&.-...Ampersand (also the prosign AS, “wait”)
;-.-.-.Semicolon
_..--.-Underscore
$...-..-Dollar sign

Shown for reference only. Receivers may not recognise them, so the translator reports these characters as not converted.

International vs American Morse

American (or railroad) Morse was used on landline telegraphs in North America. It has different codes for many letters, uses spaces inside some characters (for example C, O, R and Z) and has dashes of more than one length. It is not covered by this site; everything here is International Morse.

Guides about the alphabet

All Morse code guides

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