How Morse code works
Morse code represents each letter, digit and punctuation mark as a sequence of short signals (dots) and long signals (dashes). It was developed in the 1830s and 1840s for the electric telegraph by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail, and the version in use today is the International Morse Code, standardised in 1865 and later revised. The most common letters have the shortest codes: E is a single dot and T a single dash. A is dot-dash, N is dash-dot, and the famous distress signal SOS is three dots, three dashes, three dots.
Writing Morse in text
When Morse is typed rather than transmitted, the timing is replaced by spacing. Use a single space between the letters of a word and a slash (with or without spaces around it) between words. The translator follows this convention both ways. When decoding, it also treats three or more spaces or a line break as a word break, and it converts the typographic bullet and dash characters that some keyboards insert into plain dots and dashes.
What it can translate
- The letters A to Z, with no distinction between upper and lower case.
- The digits 0 to 9, each a five-signal sequence.
- Common punctuation: full stop, comma, question mark, apostrophe, exclamation mark, slash, parentheses, ampersand, colon, semicolon, equals, plus, hyphen, underscore, quotation mark, dollar sign and at sign.
Characters with no Morse equivalent, such as accented letters or emoji, are skipped when encoding, and the tool lists the ones it skipped. Unrecognised codes when decoding appear as a question mark so you can spot the error.
Where Morse is used today
Morse is still used by amateur radio operators, in aviation navigation beacons that identify themselves in code, and as an assistive communication method for people with limited mobility, who can send it with a single switch. It is also a popular puzzle and learning topic. Learning it by sound, at a speed where you recognise whole letters, works better than memorising the written chart.
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