Morse code gives every digit from 0 to 9 a five symbol sequence of dots and dashes, on a separate table from the letters. This chart covers all 10 digits plus the 18 punctuation marks and symbols in everyday use, so you can encode a whole message rather than only words.
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Digits are the tidiest part of Morse. Every one is exactly five symbols, and they follow a pattern you can work out rather than memorise, which the first table makes obvious at a glance.
Punctuation is the opposite. The marks run longer, follow no pattern, and are used sparingly on the air, so the second table is a lookup rather than something to learn.
Letters are on a separate page, the Morse code alphabet chart. To encode a phone number or a date without working through it digit by digit, use the translator.
| Character | Morse code |
|---|---|
| 0 | ----- |
| 1 | .---- |
| 2 | ..--- |
| 3 | ...-- |
| 4 | ....- |
| 5 | ..... |
| 6 | -.... |
| 7 | --... |
| 8 | ---.. |
| 9 | ----. |
To convert a whole figure rather than one digit at a time, paste it into the Morse code translator.
These are the 18 marks with a code in everyday use. Punctuation runs longer than letters, between five and seven symbols each, which is why real messages use it sparingly.
| Character | Morse code |
|---|---|
| . | .-.-.- |
| , | --..-- |
| ? | ..--.. |
| ' | .----. |
| ! | -.-.-- |
| / | -..-. |
| ( | -.--. |
| ) | -.--.- |
| & | .-... |
| : | ---... |
| ; | -.-.-. |
| = | -...- |
| + | .-.-. |
| - | -....- |
| _ | ..--.- |
| " | .-..-. |
| $ | ...-..- |
| @ | .--.-. |
Both tables as plain text, one character per line, ready to paste anywhere.
0 -----1 .----2 ..---3 ...--4 ....-5 .....6 -....7 --...8 ---..9 ----.. .-.-.-, --..--? ..--..' .----.! -.-.--/ -..-.( -.--.) -.--.-& .-...: ---...; -.-.-.= -...-+ .-.-.- -....-_ ..--.-" .-..-.$ ...-..-@ .--.-.
Letters vary in length. E is a single dot and Q is four symbols, because Morse gave the shortest codes to the letters English uses most and the longest to the ones it rarely needs.
Digits get no such treatment. Every one of them is exactly five symbols, so a run of numbers has a steady, countable rhythm instead of a ragged one, and there is no risk of a short digit hiding inside a longer code.
The pattern is easy to see once you know it. 1 is one dot followed by four dashes, 2 is two dots and three dashes, and so on until 5, which is five dots. From 6 the dashes come first and work back the other way, ending at 0, which is five dashes.
You write a phone number in Morse code one digit at a time, with a normal letter gap between them, exactly as you would spell out a word. There is no code for a group of digits, and none for a country prefix.
The Morse code for a question mark is ..--.., six symbols long. Most Morse punctuation runs to five or six symbols, which is one reason punctuation is used sparingly in real messages and left out of conversational sending altogether.
Every Morse code number is five symbols long because digits are far rarer than letters in ordinary text, so short codes would have been wasted on them. A fixed length also makes a run of numbers easy to count off by ear.
Morse code can write decimals, because the full stop and the comma both have their own codes. A figure like 3.14 converts character by character, the same way a word does. No currency symbol has a code here, so write the currency as a word.
For the letters, see the Morse code alphabet chart.
