| UTF-8 | 0x3C — one byte, the same as the ASCII code |
| UTF-16 | 0x003C — two bytes, high byte zero |
In a URL this character has to be percent-encoded as %3C. The unreserved set is the letters, the digits and - . _ ~; the reserved set has a job in the syntax; everything else, this included, is unsafe in transit.
The UTF-8 row is the reason ASCII text needs no conversion: every ASCII byte is already valid UTF-8 and encodes to itself. That is not true in the other direction — a UTF-8 byte above 127 is part of a multi-byte sequence and means nothing on its own — and it is why a file that opens correctly until the first accented character was read as ASCII when it was not.
What it is for
Less-than sign. Opens an HTML tag, which is why it must be escaped as < in text — failing to do so is how most cross-site scripting starts.
Where the number comes from
Codes 32 to 126 hold the printable characters. The punctuation was distributed around the letters and digits so that the most common characters fell into positions that were convenient for the teleprinter keyboards of the time.
Frequently asked questions
What is ASCII 60?
Less-than sign, the character <. In hexadecimal it is 0x3C, in octal 0074, and in binary 00111100.
How do I type ASCII 60?
Type < directly. In a string literal it can also be written \x3C, and in HTML as < or <.
Is ASCII 60 printable?
Yes. Codes 32 to 126 are the printable range, which is every character ASCII can actually display.
Nearby codes
Full ASCII table · Text to binary converter · Number base converter