Atari ST character set

The Atari ST character set is the character set of the Atari ST personal computer computer family including the Atari STE, TT and Falcon. It is based on code page 437, the original character set of the IBM PC, and like that set includes ASCII codes 32–126, extended codes for accented letters (diacritics), and other symbols. It differs from code page 437 in using other dingbats at code points 0–31, in exchanging the box-drawing characters 176–223 for the Hebrew alphabet and other symbols, and exchanging code points 158, 236 and 254–255 with the symbols for sharp S, line integral, cubed and macron.

The Atari ST family of computers contained this font stored in ROM in three sizes; as an 8×16 pixels-per-character font used in the high-resolution graphics modes, as an 8×8 pixels-per-character font used in the low- and medium-resolution graphics modes, and as a 6×6 pixels-per-character font used for icon labels in any graphics mode.

All 256 codes were assigned a graphical character in ROM, including the codes from 0 to 31 that in ASCII were reserved for non-graphical control characters.

Alt Codes

The user can enter a character by holding down the Alt key and entering the three-digit decimal code point on the numpad. This provides a way to enter special characters not provided directly on the keyboard.^[1]

Characters

The following table shows the Atari ST character set. Each character is shown with its equivalent Unicode code point if available, and its decimal code point. See also the notes below re equivalent Unicode characters for some code points.

Although the ROM provides a graphic for all 256 different possible 8-bit codes, some APIs will not print some of these code points, in particular the range 0–31 and the code at 127. Instead they will interpret them as control characters.

Atari ST character set^[1][2][3][4]

	_0	_1	_2	_3	_4	_5	_6	_7	_8	_9	_A	_B	_C	_D	_E	_F
0_	NUL 0000 0[lower-alpha 1]	⇧ U+21E7 1[lower-alpha 2]	⇩ U+21E9 2[lower-alpha 2]	⇨ U+21E8 3[lower-alpha 2]	⇦ U+21E6 4[lower-alpha 2]	❎ U+274E 5[lower-alpha 2]	6[lower-alpha 2]	7[lower-alpha 2]	✓ U+2713 8[lower-alpha 2]	🕒 U+1F552 9	🔔 U+1F514 10	♪ U+266A 11	␌ U+240C 12	␍ U+240D 13	14[lower-alpha 3]	15[lower-alpha 3]
1_	16[lower-alpha 4]	17[lower-alpha 4]	18[lower-alpha 4]	19[lower-alpha 4]	20[lower-alpha 4]	21[lower-alpha 4]	22[lower-alpha 4]	23[lower-alpha 4]	24[lower-alpha 4]	25[lower-alpha 4]	ə U+0259 26	␛ U+241B 27	28[lower-alpha 5]	29[lower-alpha 5]	30[lower-alpha 5]	31[lower-alpha 5]
2_	SP U+0020 32[lower-alpha 1]	! U+0021 33	" U+0022 34	# U+0023 35	$ U+0024 36	% U+0025 37	& U+0026 38	' U+0027 39	( U+0028 40	) U+0029 41	* U+002A 42	+ U+002B 43	, U+002C 44	- U+002D 45	. U+002E 46	/ U+002F 47
3_	0 U+0030 48	1 U+0031 49	2 U+0032 50	3 U+0033 51	4 U+0034 52	5 U+0035 53	6 U+0036 54	7 U+0037 55	8 U+0038 56	9 U+0039 57	: U+003A 58	; U+003B 59	< U+003C 60	= U+003D 61	> U+003E 62	? U+003F 63
4_	@ U+0040 64	A U+0041 65	B U+0042 66	C U+0043 67	D U+0044 68	E U+0045 69	F U+0046 70	G U+0047 71	H U+0048 72	I U+0049 73	J U+004A 74	K U+004B 75	L U+004C 76	M U+004D 77	N U+004E 78	O U+004F 79
5_	P U+0050 80	Q U+0051 81	R U+0052 82	S U+0053 83	T U+0054 84	U U+0055 85	V U+0056 86	W U+0057 87	X U+0058 88	Y U+0059 89	Z U+005A 90	[ U+005B 91	\ U+005C 92	] U+005D 93	^ U+005E 94	_ U+005F 95
6_	` U+0060 96	a U+0061 97	b U+0062 98	c U+0063 99	d U+0064 100	e U+0065 101	f U+0066 102	g U+0067 103	h U+0068 104	i U+0069 105	j U+006A 106	k U+006B 107	l U+006C 108	m U+006D 109	n U+006E 110	o U+006F 111
7_	p U+0070 112	q U+0071 113	r U+0072 114	s U+0073 115	t U+0074 116	u U+0075 117	v U+0076 118	w U+0077 119	x U+0078 120	y U+0079 121	z U+007A 122	{ U+007B 123	| U+007C 124	} U+007D 125	~ U+007E 126	⌂ U+2302 127
8_	Ç U+00C7 128	ü U+00FC 129	é U+00E9 130	â U+00E2 131	ä U+00E4 132	à U+00E0 133	å U+00E5 134	ç U+00E7 135	ê U+00EA 136	ë U+00EB 137	è U+00E8 138	ï U+00EF 139	î U+00EE 140	ì U+00EC 141	Ä U+00C4 142	Å U+00C5 143
9_	É U+00C9 144	æ U+00E6 145	Æ U+00C6 146	ô U+00F4 147	ö U+00F6 148	ò U+00F2 149	û U+00FB 150	ù U+00F9 151	ÿ U+00FF 152	Ö U+00D6 153	Ü U+00DC 154	¢ U+00A2 155	£ U+00A3 156	¥ U+00A5 157	ß U+00DF 158[lower-alpha 6]	ƒ U+0192 159
A_	á U+00E1 160	í U+00ED 161	ó U+00F3 162	ú U+00FA 163	ñ U+00F1 164	Ñ U+00D1 165	ª U+00AA 166	º U+00BA 167	¿ U+00BF 168	⌐ U+2310 169	¬ U+00AC 170	½ U+00BD 171	¼ U+00BC 172	¡ U+00A1 173	« U+00AB 174	» U+00BB 175
B_	ã U+00E3 176	õ U+00F5 177	Ø U+00D8 178	ø U+00F8 179	œ U+0153 180	Œ U+0152 181	À U+00C0 182	à U+00C3 183	Õ U+00D5 184	¨ U+00A8 185	´ U+00B4 186	† U+2020 187	¶ U+00B6 188	© U+00A9 189	® U+00AE 190	™ U+2122 191
C_	ij U+0133 192[lower-alpha 7]	IJ U+0132 193[lower-alpha 7]	א U+05D0 194[lower-alpha 7]	ב U+05D1 195[lower-alpha 7]	ג U+05D2 196[lower-alpha 7]	ד U+05D3 197[lower-alpha 7]	ה U+05D4 198[lower-alpha 7]	ו U+05D5 199[lower-alpha 7]	ז U+05D6 200[lower-alpha 7]	ח U+05D7 201[lower-alpha 7]	ט U+05D8 202[lower-alpha 7]	י U+05D9 203[lower-alpha 7]	כ U+05DB 204[lower-alpha 7]	ל U+05DC 205[lower-alpha 7]	מ U+05DE 206[lower-alpha 7]	נ U+05E0 207[lower-alpha 7]
D_	ס U+05E1 208[lower-alpha 7]	ע U+05E2 209[lower-alpha 7]	פ U+05E4 210[lower-alpha 7]	צ U+05E6 211[lower-alpha 7]	ק U+05E7 212[lower-alpha 7]	ר U+05E8 213[lower-alpha 7]	ש U+05E9 214[lower-alpha 7]	ת U+05EA 215[lower-alpha 7]	ן U+05DF 216[lower-alpha 7]	ך U+05DA 217[lower-alpha 7]	ם U+05DD 218[lower-alpha 7]	ף U+05E3 219[lower-alpha 7]	ץ U+05E5 220[lower-alpha 7]	§ U+00A7 221[lower-alpha 7]	∧ U+2227 222[lower-alpha 7]	∞ U+221E 223[lower-alpha 7]
E_	α U+03B1 224	β U+03B2 225[lower-alpha 6]	Γ U+0393 226	π U+03C0 227[lower-alpha 8]	Σ U+03A3 228[lower-alpha 9]	σ U+03C3 229	µ U+00B5 230[lower-alpha 10]	τ U+03C4 231	Φ U+03A6 232	Θ U+0398 233	Ω U+03A9 234[lower-alpha 11]	δ U+03B4 235[lower-alpha 12]	∮ U+222E 236[lower-alpha 13]	ϕ U+03D5 237[lower-alpha 14]	∈ U+2208 238[lower-alpha 15]	∩ U+2229 239
F_	≡ U+2261 240	± U+00B1 241	≥ U+2265 242	≤ U+2264 243	⌠ U+2320 244	⌡ U+2321 245	÷ U+00F7 246	≈ U+2248 247	° U+00B0 248	∙ U+2219 249	· U+00B7 250	√ U+221A 251	ⁿ U+207F 252	² U+00B2 253	³ U+00B3 254[lower-alpha 16]	¯ U+00AF 255[lower-alpha 17]
	_0	_1	_2	_3	_4	_5	_6	_7	_8	_9	_A	_B	_C	_D	_E	_F

Notes

Re translation to Unicode it should be noted that some codes do not have a unique, single Unicode equivalent; the correct choice may depend upon context.

1. 0 and 32 (20_hex) both draw a blank space.
2. 1–8 are used in GEM AES user interface elements such as icons for closing, resizing and maximizing windows.
3. 14–15 (0E_hex–0F_hex) are 2 pieces that form an Atari "Fuji" logo, frequently used together as an alternative to the title "File" for the leftmost menu in Atari ST software.
4. 16–25 (10_hex–19_hex) are alternate representations of the digits 0–9 in the style of a seven-segment display. There are no direct Unicode equivalents although Unicode does have several other alternative sets of digits.
5. 28–31 (1C_hex–1F_hex) are 4 pieces that form the image of J. R. "Bob" Dobbs from the satirical Church of the SubGenius, a rarely used easter egg.
6. 158 (9E_hex) is the German sharp S (U+00DF, ß) produced by a German Atari ST keyboard's ß key. 225 (E1_hex) is the Greek lowercase beta (U+03B2, β) homoglyph. Note that code page 437 uses using 158 for the ₧ symbol so 225 serves both functions there, and the Unicode Consortium's suggestion is to map code page 437's code point 225 to sharp S (U+00DF) presumably based on its more frequent use as the sharp S, despite that its surrounding code points are Greek characters.^[4]
7. 192–223 (C0_hex–EF_hex) are used for ij, IJ, the Hebrew alphabet, §, ∧ and ∞ on the Atari ST while they are used for box-drawing characters in code page 437.
8. 227 (E3_hex) is the Greek lowercase pi (U+03C0, π), but early code page 437 fonts such as Terminal use a variant of pi that is ambiguous in case, and therefore can be used for the Greek capital pi (U+03A0, Π) or the n-ary product sign (U+220F, ∏).
9. 228 (E4_hex) is both the n-ary summation sign (U+2211, ∑) and the Greek uppercase sigma (U+03A3, Σ).
10. 230 (E6_hex) is both the micro sign (U+00B5, µ) and the Greek lowercase mu (U+03BC, μ).
11. 234 (EA_hex) is both the ohm sign (U+2126, Ω) and the Greek uppercase omega (U+03A9, Ω). (Unicode considers the ohm sign to be equivalent to uppercase omega, and suggests that the latter be used in both contexts.^[5])
12. 235 (EB_hex) is the Greek lowercase delta (U+03B4, δ), but it has also been used as a surrogate for the Icelandic lowercase eth (U+00F0, ð) and the partial derivative sign (U+2202, ∂).
13. 236 (EC_hex) is used for the ∮ symbol on the Atari ST while code page 437 uses it for the ∞ symbol, which in turn the Atari ST places at 223.
14. 237 (ED_hex) is both used as the empty set sign (U+2205, ∅), the Greek lowercase phi, the Greek phi symbol in italics (U+03D5, Φ) to name angles, and the diameter sign (U+2300, ⌀).
15. 238 (EE_hex) is both used as the Greek lowercase epsilon (U+03B5, ε) and the element-of sign (U+2208, ∈). Later it was often used for the euro sign (U+20AC, €).
16. 254 (FE_hex) is used for the ³ symbol on the Atari ST while code page 437 uses it for the ■ symbol.
17. 255 (FF_hex) is used for the ¯ symbol on the Atari ST while code page 437 uses it for the non-breaking space.

See also

• GEM
• Alt codes
• ANSI
• ASCII
• ATASCII
• Code page 437
• Western Latin character sets (computing)

References

1. "Atari Wiki - The Atari character set".
2. "KreativeKorp - Character Encodings - Legacy Encodings - Atari ST".
3. "Codepages / Ascii Table Atari ST/TT Character Encoding".
4. "cp437_DOSLatinUS to Unicode table" (TXT). The Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 14 Nov 2011.
5. The Unicode Consortium, The Unicode Standard 4.0, Chapter 7, "European Alphabetic Scripts", p176. PDF version