Braille ASCII is a subset of the ASCII

ASCII

The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...

 character set which uses 64 of the printable

Printable

Printable usually refers to something suitable for printing:* Printable character* Printable version* Printability of paper, see paper and ink testing...

 ASCII characters

Character (computing)

In computer and machine-based telecommunications terminology, a character is a unit of information that roughly corresponds to a grapheme, grapheme-like unit, or symbol, such as in an alphabet or syllabary in the written form of a natural language....

 to represent all possible dot combinations in six-dot Braille

Braille

The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...

. It was developed around 1969 and, in spite of originally being known as North American Braille ASCII, it is now used internationally.

Overview

Braille ASCII uses the 64 ASCII characters between 32 and 95 inclusive. All capital letters in ASCII correspond to their equivalent values in uncontracted English Braille. Note however that, unlike standard print, there is only one Braille symbol for each letter of the alphabet. Therefore, in Braille, all letters are lower-case by default, unless preceded by a capitalization sign (⠠ ).

The numbers 1 through 9 and 0 correspond to the letters a through j, except that they are lowered or shifted lower in the Braille cell. For example, ⠉ represents c, and ⠒ is 3. The other symbols may or may not correspond to their Braille values. For example, ⠌ represents / in Braille ASCII, and this is the Braille slash, but ⠿ represents =, and this is not the equals sign in Braille.

Braille ASCII more closely corresponds to the Nemeth Braille

Nemeth Braille

The Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics is a Braille code for encoding mathematical and scientific notation linearly using standard six-dot Braille cells for tactile reading by the visually impaired. The code was developed by Abraham Nemeth....

 Code for mathematics than it does to the English Literary Braille Code, as the Nemeth Braille code is what it was originally based upon.

If Braille ASCII is viewed in a word processor

Word processor

A word processor is a computer application used for the production of any sort of printable material....

, it will look like a jumbled mix of letters, numbers, and punctuation. However, there are several fonts

Typeface

In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....

 available, many of them free, which allow the user to view and print Braille ASCII as simulated Braille, i.e. a graphical representation of Braille characters

Uses

Braille ASCII was originally designed to be a means for storing and transmitting six-dot Braille in a digital format, and this continues to be its primary usage today. Because it uses standard characters available on computer keyboard

Computer keyboard

In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...

s, it can be easily typed and edited with a standard word processor. Many Braille embossers receive their input in Braille ASCII, and nearly all Braille translation software can import and export this format.

Several institutions which produce Braille materials distribute BRF files. BRF files are files which primarily contain Braille ASCII, but also include control character

Control character

In computing and telecommunication, a control character or non-printing character is a code point in a character set, that does not in itself represent a written symbol.It is in-band signaling in the context of character encoding....

s, which effect how the Braille is printed or displayed. These files can then be embossed with a Braille embosser

Braille embosser

A Braille embosser is a printer, necessarily an impact printer, that renders text as tactile Braille cells. Using Braille translation software, a document can be embossed with relative ease, making Braille production much more efficient and cost-effective....

 or printed, read on a Refreshable Braille display

Refreshable Braille display

A refreshable Braille display or Braille terminal is an electro-mechanical device for displaying Braille characters, usually by means of raising dots through holes in a flat surface. Blind computer users, who cannot use a normal computer monitor, use it to read text output...

, or back-translated into standard text, which can then be read by a Screen reader

Screen reader

A screen reader is a software application that attempts to identify and interpret what is being displayed on the screen . This interpretation is then re-presented to the user with text-to-speech, sound icons, or a Braille output device...

 or other similar program. Many find BRF files to be a more convenient way to receive brailled content, and it has increasing use as a distribution format.

Unicode

Unicode

Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...

 includes a means for encoding eight-dot Braille, however, Braille ASCII continues to be the preferred format for encoding six-dot Braille.

Braille ASCII values

The following table shows the arrangement of characters, with the hex value, corresponding ASCII character, dot combinations, Braille Unicode

Unicode

Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...

 glyph, and general meaning (the actual meaning may change depending on context).

EWLINE Hex ASCII Glyph Braille Dots Braille Glyph Braille Meaning 20 (space) Space (punctuation) In writing, a space is a blank area devoid of content, serving to separate words, letters, numbers, and punctuation. Conventions for interword and intersentence spaces vary among languages, and in some cases the spacing rules are quite complex.... ⠀ (space) 21 ! Exclamation mark The exclamation mark, exclamation point, or bang, or "dembanger" is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume , and often marks the end of a sentence. Example: “Watch out!” The character is encoded in Unicode at... 2-3-4-6 ⠮ the 22 " Quotation mark Quotation marks or inverted commas are punctuation marks at the beginning and end of a quotation, direct speech, literal title or name. Quotation marks can also be used to indicate a different meaning of a word or phrase than the one typically associated with it and are often used to express irony... 5 ⠐ (contraction) 23 # Number sign Number sign is a name for the symbol #, which is used for a variety of purposes including, in some countries, the designation of a number... 3-4-5-6 ⠼ (number prefix) 24 $ Dollar sign The dollar or peso sign is a symbol primarily used to indicate the various peso and dollar units of currency around the world.- Origin :... 1-2-4-6 ⠫ ed 25 % Percent sign The percent sign is the symbol used to indicate a percentage .Related signs include the permille sign ‰ and the permyriad sign , which indicate that a number is divided by one thousand or ten thousand respectively... 1-4-6 ⠩ sh 26 & Ampersand An ampersand is a logogram representing the conjunction word "and". The symbol is a ligature of the letters in et, Latin for "and".-Etymology:... 1-2-3-4-6 ⠯ and 27 ' Apostrophe The apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets... 3 ⠄ ' 28 ( Bracket Brackets are tall punctuation marks used in matched pairs within text, to set apart or interject other text. In the United States, "bracket" usually refers specifically to the "square" or "box" type.-List of types:... 1-2-3-5-6 ⠷ of 29 ) Bracket Brackets are tall punctuation marks used in matched pairs within text, to set apart or interject other text. In the United States, "bracket" usually refers specifically to the "square" or "box" type.-List of types:... 2-3-4-5-6 ⠾ with 2A * Asterisk An asterisk is a typographical symbol or glyph. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often pronounce it as star... 1-6 ⠡ ch 2B + 3-4-6 ⠬ ing 2C , Comma (punctuation) The comma is a punctuation mark. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline of the text. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight but inclined from the vertical, or... 6 ⠠ (uppercase prefix) 2D - Hyphen The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. The hyphen should not be confused with dashes , which are longer and have different uses, or with the minus sign which is also longer... 3-6 ⠤ - 2E . Full stop A full stop is the punctuation mark commonly placed at the end of sentences. In American English, the term used for this punctuation is period. In the 21st century, it is often also called a dot by young people... 4-6 ⠨ (italic prefix) 2F / Slash (punctuation) The slash is a sign used as a punctuation mark and for various other purposes. It is now often called a forward slash , and many other alternative names.-History:... 3-4 ⠌ st 30 0 3-5-6 ⠴ " 31 1 2 ⠂ , 32 2 2-3 ⠆ ; 33 3 2-5 ⠒ : 34 4 2-5-6 ⠲ . 35 5 2-6 ⠢ en 36 6 2-3-5 ⠖ ! 37 7 2-3-5-6 ⠶ ( or ) 38 8 2-3-6 ⠦ " or ? 39 9 3-5 ⠔ in 3A : Colon (punctuation) The colon is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line.-Usage:A colon informs the reader that what follows the mark proves, explains, or lists elements of what preceded the mark.... 1-5-6 ⠱ wh 3B ; Semicolon The semicolon is a punctuation mark with several uses. The Italian printer Aldus Manutius the Elder established the practice of using the semicolon to separate words of opposed meaning and to indicate interdependent statements. "The first printed semicolon was the work of ... Aldus Manutius"... 5-6 ⠰ (letter prefix) 3C < 1-2-6 ⠣ gh 3D = Equals sign The equality sign, equals sign, or "=" is a mathematical symbol used to indicate equality. It was invented in 1557 by Robert Recorde. The equals sign is placed between the things stated to have the same value, as in an equation... 1-2-3-4-5-6 ⠿ for 3E > Greater-than sign -Computing:The greater-than sign is an original ASCII character .-Angle brackets:The greater-than sign is used for an approximation of the closing angle bracket . ASCII does not have angular brackets.-Programming language:... 3-4-5 ⠜ ar 3F ? Question mark The question mark , is a punctuation mark that replaces the full stop at the end of an interrogative sentence in English and many other languages. The question mark is not used for indirect questions... 1-4-5-6 ⠹ th

EWLINE Hex ASCII Glyph Braille Dots Braille Glyph Braille Meaning 40 @ 4 ⠈ (accent prefix) 41 A 1 ⠁ a 42 B 1-2 ⠃ b 43 C 1-4 ⠉ c 44 D 1-4-5 ⠙ d 45 E 1-5 ⠑ e 46 F 1-2-4 ⠋ f 47 G 1-2-4-5 ⠛ g 48 H 1-2-5 ⠓ h 49 I 2-4 ⠊ i 4A J 2-4-5 ⠚ j 4B K 1-3 ⠅ k 4C L 1-2-3 ⠇ l 4D M 1-3-4 ⠍ m 4E N 1-3-4-5 ⠝ n 4F O 1-3-5 ⠕ o 50 P 1-2-3-4 ⠏ p 51 Q 1-2-3-4-5 ⠟ q 52 R 1-2-3-5 ⠗ r 53 S 2-3-4 ⠎ s 54 T 2-3-4-5 ⠞ t 55 U 1-3-6 ⠥ u 56 V 1-2-3-6 ⠧ v 57 W 2-4-5-6 ⠺ w 58 X 1-3-4-6 ⠭ x 59 Y 1-3-4-5-6 ⠽ y 5A Z 1-3-5-6 ⠵ z 5B [ Bracket Brackets are tall punctuation marks used in matched pairs within text, to set apart or interject other text. In the United States, "bracket" usually refers specifically to the "square" or "box" type.-List of types:... 2-4-6 ⠪ ow 5C \ Backslash The backslash is a typographical mark used mainly in computing. It was first introduced to computers in 1960 by Bob Bemer. Sometimes called a reverse solidus or a slosh, it is the mirror image of the common slash.... 1-2-5-6 ⠳ ou 5D ] Bracket Brackets are tall punctuation marks used in matched pairs within text, to set apart or interject other text. In the United States, "bracket" usually refers specifically to the "square" or "box" type.-List of types:... 1-2-4-5-6 ⠻ er 5E ^ Caret Caret usually refers to the spacing symbol ^ in ASCII and other character sets. In Unicode, however, the corresponding character is , whereas the Unicode character named caret is actually a similar but lowered symbol: .... 4-5 ⠘ (contraction) 5F Underscore The underscore [ _ ] is a character that originally appeared on the typewriter and was primarily used to underline words... 4-5-6 ⠸ (contraction)

The following C

C (programming language)

C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

 string literal

String literal

A string literal is the representation of a string value within the source code of a computer program. There are numerous alternate notations for specifying string literals, and the exact notation depends on the individual programming language in question...

 (which can also be used in Python

Python (programming language)

Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

 and other programming language

Programming language

A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....

s that accept C string literals) is derived from the above table and gives the Braille ASCII mappings for Unicode Braille characters

Braille Unicode block

In Unicode, Braille is represented in a block called Braille Patterns . The block contains all 256 possible patterns of an 8-dot Braille cell, thereby including the complete 6-dot cell range.-Symbols, not a script:...

 U+2800 through U+283F in order, starting with U+2800 at the start of the string:
" A1B'K2L@CIF/MSP\"E3H9O6R^DJG>NTQ,*5<-U8V.%[$+X!&;:4\\0Z7(_?W]#Y)="

Unused ASCII values

Only 64 characters are needed to represent all possible combinations of 6 Braille dots (including space), so not all ASCII values are needed for Braille ASCII.

The lower-case letters (a to z) are not normally used, but might be interpreted as having the same dot patterns as their upper-case equivalents. `, {, |, and } are not used and their Braille ASCII rendition is not defined.

Braille ASCII is merely a subset of the ASCII table that can be used to represent all possible combinations of 6-dot Braille. It is not to be confused with the Computer Braille Code, which can represent all ASCII values distinctly.

External links

• About Braille: Codes, Formats, Computers, and Braille ASCII
• Early History of Braille Translators and Embossers
• Representing and Displaying Braille
• Web-Braille fact sheet from the Library of Congress