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GSM Character Set

GSM, or Global System for Mobile Communications, refers to the alphabet used to write SMS messages.

Gareth Burroughes avatar
Written by Gareth Burroughes
Updated over 9 months ago

A standard single SMS can contain 160 characters. All the characters you enter into your SMS must be part of this 7-bit default alphabet defined by GSM 3.38. This alphabet includes all the ASCII characters and some accented characters. For example, u umlaut (ü) and e with grave (è) are in this set.

If you use a character outside of this set, the SMS is treated as a Unicode SMS. Unicode SMS limits the length of the SMS to 70 characters because of the different character encoding.

Common characters to avoid

There are some familiar characters you should avoid using and instead use their more efficient GSM counterparts.

Character to avoid

GSM equivalent

'

`

'

"

"

~

-

¬

-

|

I (uppercase i)

GSM 03.38 7-bit character set

Hex

Decimal

Character name

Supported character

0x00

0

COMMERCIAL AT

@

0x01

1

POUND SIGN

£

0x02

2

DOLLAR SIGN

$

0x03

3

YEN SIGN

¥

0x04

4

LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH GRAVE

è

0x05

5

LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE

é

0x06

6

LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH GRAVE

ù

0x07

7

LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH GRAVE

ì

0x08

8

LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH GRAVE

ò

0x09

9

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA

Ç

0x0A

10

LINE FEED

0x0B

11

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH STROKE

Ø

0x0C

12

LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH STROKE

ø

0x0D

13

CARRIAGE RETURN

0x0E

14

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE

Å

0x0F

15

LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE

å

0x10

16

GREEK CAPITAL LETTER DELTA

Δ

0x11

17

LOW LINE

_

0x12

18

GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PHI

Φ

0x13

19

GREEK CAPITAL LETTER GAMMA

Γ

0x14

20

GREEK CAPITAL LETTER LAMBDA

Λ

0x15

21

GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA

Ω

0x16

22

GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI

Π

0x17

23

GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PSI

Ψ

0x18

24

GREEK CAPITAL LETTER SIGMA

Σ

0x19

25

GREEK CAPITAL LETTER THETA

Θ

0x1A

26

GREEK CAPITAL LETTER XI

Ξ

0x1B

27

ESCAPE TO EXTENSION TABLE

0x1C

28

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER AE

Æ

0x1D

29

LATIN SMALL LETTER AE

æ

0x1E

30

LATIN SMALL LETTER SHARP S(German)

ß

0x1F

31

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH ACUTE

É

0x20

32

SPACE

0x21

33

EXCLAMATION MARK

!

0x22

34

QUOTATION MARK

0x23

35

NUMBER SIGN

#

0x24

36

CURRENCY SIGN

¤

0x25

37

PERCENT SIGN

%

0x26

38

AMPERSAND

&

0x27

39

APOSTROPHE

0x28

40

LEFT PARENTHESIS

(

0x29

41

RIGHT PARENTHESIS

)

0x2A

42

ASTERISK

*

0x2B

43

PLUS SIGN

+

0x2C

44

COMMA

,

0x2D

45

HYPHEN-MINUS

0x2E

46

FULL STOP

.

0x2F

47

SOLIDUS(SLASH)

/

0x30

48

DIGIT ZERO

0

0x31

49

DIGIT ONE

1

0x32

50

DIGIT TWO

2

0x33

51

DIGIT THREE

3

0x34

52

DIGIT FOUR

4

0x35

53

DIGIT FIVE

5

0x36

54

DIGIT SIX

6

0x37

55

DIGIT SEVEN

7

0x38

56

DIGIT EIGHT

8

0x39

57

DIGIT NINE

9

0x3A

58

COLON

:

0x3B

59

SEMICOLON

;

0x3C

60

LESS-THAN SIGN

<

0x3D

61

EQUALS SIGN

=

0x3E

62

GREATER-THAN SIGN

>

0x3F

63

QUESTION MARK

?

0x40

64

INVERTED EXCLAMATION MARK

¡

0x41

65

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A

A

0x42

66

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B

B

0x43

67

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C

C

0x44

68

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D

D

0x45

69

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E

E

0x46

70

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER F

F

0x47

71

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G

G

0x48

72

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER H

H

0x49

73

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I

I

0x4A

74

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER J

J

0x4B

75

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K

K

0x4C

76

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L

L

0x4D

77

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M

M

0x4E

78

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N

N

0x4F

79

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O

O

0x50

80

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P

P

0x51

81

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Q

Q

0x52

82

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R

R

0x53

83

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S

S

0x54

84

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T

T

0x55

85

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U

U

0x56

86

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V

V

0x57

87

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER W

W

0x58

88

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X

X

0x59

89

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y

Y

0x5A

90

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z

Z

0x5B

91

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS

Ä

0x5C

92

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS

Ö

0x5D

93

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH TILDE

Ñ

0x5E

94

LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS

Ü

0x5F

95

SECTION SIGN

§

0x60

96

INVERTED QUESTION MARK

¿

0x61

97

LATIN SMALL LETTER A

a

0x62

98

LATIN SMALL LETTER B

b

0x63

99

LATIN SMALL LETTER C

c

0x64

100

LATIN SMALL LETTER D

d

0x65

101

LATIN SMALL LETTER E

e

0x66

102

LATIN SMALL LETTER F

f

0x67

103

LATIN SMALL LETTER G

g

0x68

104

LATIN SMALL LETTER H

h

0x69

105

LATIN SMALL LETTER I

i

0x6A

106

LATIN SMALL LETTER J

j

0x6B

107

LATIN SMALL LETTER K

k

0x6C

108

LATIN SMALL LETTER L

l

0x6D

109

LATIN SMALL LETTER M

m

0x6E

110

LATIN SMALL LETTER N

n

0x6F

111

LATIN SMALL LETTER O

o

0x70

112

LATIN SMALL LETTER P

p

0x71

113

LATIN SMALL LETTER Q

q

0x72

114

LATIN SMALL LETTER R

r

0x73

115

LATIN SMALL LETTER S

s

0x74

116

LATIN SMALL LETTER T

t

0x75

117

LATIN SMALL LETTER U

u

0x76

118

LATIN SMALL LETTER V

v

0x77

119

LATIN SMALL LETTER W

w

0x78

120

LATIN SMALL LETTER X

x

0x79

121

LATIN SMALL LETTER Y

y

0x7A

122

LATIN SMALL LETTER Z

z

0x7B

123

LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS

ä

0x7C

124

LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS

ö

0x7D

125

LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH TILDE

ñ

0x7E

126

LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS

ü

0x7F

127

LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE

à

The Extended GSM character set

You can send some additional characters using the <ESC> (0x1B) code in the above table, plus an extra character. These additional characters, known as the Extended GSM character set, require two standard GSM characters for each extended GSM character because they use the escape character prefix.

Some characters might not display correctly due to handset limitations.

These characters do not limit the length of the message, but they count as two characters each. For example, 1 character = 2.

Hex

Decimal

Character name

Supported character

0x1B65

27 101

EURO SIGN

0x1B0A

27 10

FORM FEED

<FF>

0x1B3C

27 60

LEFT SQUARE BRACKET

[

0x1B2F

27 47

REVERSE SOLIDUS(BACKSLASH)

\

0x1B3E

27 62

RIGHT SQUARE BRACKET

]

0x1B14

27 20

CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT

^

0x1B28

27 40

LEFT CURLY BRACKET

{

0x1B40

27 64

VERTICAL BAR

|

0x1B29

27 41

RIGHT CURLY BRACKET

}

0x1B3D

27 61

TILDE

~

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