ASCII 8
ASCII 8 is Backspace — the control character BS.
Every representation
| Character | BS (not printable) |
| Name | Backspace |
| Decimal | 8 |
| Hexadecimal | 0x08 |
| Octal | 0010 |
| Binary | 00001000 |
| HTML entity |  |
| Escape sequence | \\b |
| Unicode | U+0008 |
| Keyboard | Ctrl+H |
| Group | Control character |
What it is for
Moved the print head back one position. On paper terminals this was how you overstruck characters to make bold or accented letters. Modern terminals mostly send DEL (127) for the Backspace key instead.
Where the number comes from
Codes 0 to 31 were reserved for control: instructions to a teleprinter rather than characters to print. Code 8 is Ctrl+H because the Ctrl key was originally wired to clear the top two bits of whatever you typed, mapping the letter H at 72 down to 8.
Frequently asked questions
What is ASCII 8?
Backspace (BS), a control character. In hexadecimal it is 0x08, in octal 0010, and in binary 00001000.
How do I type ASCII 8?
Press Ctrl+H in a terminal. In a string literal you can write it as \\b or \\x08 in most languages.
Is ASCII 8 printable?
No. Codes 0 to 31 and 127 are control characters — they were instructions to a teleprinter rather than marks on paper, and most terminals show nothing for them.
Nearby codes
- ASCII 1 — SOH
- ASCII 2 — STX
- ASCII 3 — ETX
- ASCII 4 — EOT
- ASCII 5 — ENQ
- ASCII 6 — ACK
- ASCII 7 — BEL
- ASCII 9 — HT
- ASCII 10 — LF
- ASCII 11 — VT
- ASCII 12 — FF
- ASCII 13 — CR
- ASCII 14 — SO
- ASCII 15 — SI
Full ASCII table · Text to binary converter · Number base converter