GSM Character Set

Overview

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

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

This is because of handset limitations.

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	~