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The Sinclair ZX80 had a non-standard character set and many normal ASCII characters, including lowercase letters, were absent. The full ZX80 character set is listed below, with some annotation. |
| Decimal Code | Hexadecimal Code | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 00 | (Space) |
| 1 | 01 | " |
| 2 | 02 | block graphic |
| 3 | 03 | block graphic |
| 4 | 04 | block graphic |
| 5 | 05 | block graphic |
| 6 | 06 | block graphic |
| 7 | 07 | block graphic |
| 8 | 08 | block graphic |
| 9 | 09 | block graphic |
| 10 | 0A | block graphic |
| 11 | 0B | block graphic |
| The ZX80 has 16 (including space and inverse space) 'block graphic' characters which consist of a character square divided into four smaller squares, with every combination of none, one, two, three or four of the small squares 'filled-in', as shown in the top two rows below. The six graphic characters in the bottom row are intended for drawing horizontal bar charts, with the 'chessboard' patterns giving a grey shade. ![]() | ||
| 12 | 0C | £ |
| 13 | 0D | $ |
| 14 | 0E | : |
| 15 | 0F | ? |
| 16 | 10 | (¹ |
| 17 | 11 | )¹ |
| 18 | 12 | -¹ |
| 19 | 13 | +¹ |
| 20 | 14 | *¹ |
| 21 | 15 | /¹ |
| 22 | 16 | =¹ |
| 23 | 17 | >¹ |
| 24 | 18 | <¹ |
| 25 | 19 | ;¹ |
| 26 | 1A | ,¹ |
| 27 | 1B | . |
| 28 | 1C | 0 |
| 29 | 1D | 1 |
| 30 | 1E | 2 |
| 31 | 1F | 3 |
| 32 | 20 | 4 |
| 33 | 21 | 5 |
| 34 | 22 | 6 |
| 35 | 23 | 7 |
| 36 | 24 | 8 |
| 37 | 25 | 9 |
| 38 | 26 | A |
| 39 | 27 | B |
| 40 | 28 | C |
| 41 | 29 | D |
| 42 | 2A | E |
| 43 | 2B | F |
| 44 | 2C | G |
| 45 | 2D | H |
| 46 | 2E | I |
| 47 | 2F | J |
| 48 | 30 | K |
| 49 | 31 | L |
| 50 | 32 | M |
| 51 | 33 | N |
| 52 | 34 | O |
| 53 | 35 | P |
| 54 | 36 | Q |
| 55 | 37 | R |
| 56 | 38 | S |
| 57 | 39 | T |
| 58 | 3A | U |
| 59 | 3B | V |
| 60 | 3C | W |
| 61 | 3D | X |
| 62 | 3E | Y |
| 63 | 3F | Z |
| 64 | 40 | not used |
| 65 | 41 | not used |
| 66 | 42 | not used |
| 67 | 43 | not used |
| 68 | 44 | not used |
| 69 | 45 | not used |
| 70 | 46 | not used |
| 71 | 47 | not used |
| 72 | 48 | not used |
| 73 | 49 | not used |
| 74 | 4A | not used |
| 75 | 4B | not used |
| 76 | 4C | not used |
| 77 | 4D | not used |
| 78 | 4E | not used |
| 79 | 4F | not used |
| 80 | 50 | not used |
| 81 | 51 | not used |
| 82 | 52 | not used |
| 83 | 53 | not used |
| 84 | 54 | not used |
| 85 | 55 | not used |
| 86 | 56 | not used |
| 87 | 57 | not used |
| 88 | 58 | not used |
| 89 | 59 | not used |
| 90 | 5A | not used |
| 91 | 5B | not used |
| 92 | 5C | not used |
| 93 | 5D | not used |
| 94 | 5E | not used |
| 95 | 5F | not used |
| 96 | 60 | not used |
| 97 | 61 | not used |
| 98 | 62 | not used |
| 99 | 63 | not used |
| 100 | 64 | not used |
| 101 | 65 | not used |
| 102 | 66 | not used |
| 103 | 67 | not used |
| 104 | 68 | not used |
| 105 | 69 | not used |
| 106 | 6A | not used |
| 107 | 6B | not used |
| 108 | 6C | not used |
| 109 | 6D | not used |
| 110 | 6E | not used |
| 111 | 6F | not used |
| 112 | 70 | not used |
| 113 | 71 | not used |
| 114 | 72 | not used |
| 115 | 73 | not used |
| 116 | 74 | not used |
| 117 | 75 | not used |
| 118 | 76 | not used |
| 119 | 77 | not used |
| 120 | 78 | not used |
| 121 | 79 | not used |
| 122 | 7A | not used |
| 123 | 7B | not used |
| 124 | 7C | not used |
| 125 | 7D | not used |
| 126 | 7E | not used |
| 127 | 7F | not used |
| Character codes 64 to 127 print as ? The true question mark is code 15. | ||
| 128 | 80 | inverse space |
| 129 | 81 | inverse " |
| 130 | 82 | block graphic |
| 131 | 83 | block graphic |
| 132 | 84 | block graphic |
| 133 | 85 | block graphic |
| 134 | 86 | block graphic |
| 135 | 87 | block graphic |
| 136 | 88 | block graphic |
| 137 | 89 | block graphic |
| 138 | 8A | block graphic |
| 139 | 8B | block graphic |
| See after code 11 for the forms of block graphics | ||
| 140 | 8C | inverse £ |
| 141 | 8D | inverse $ |
| 142 | 8E | inverse : |
| 143 | 8F | inverse ? |
| 144 | 90 | inverse ( |
| 145 | 91 | inverse ) |
| 146 | 92 | inverse - |
| 147 | 93 | inverse + |
| 148 | 94 | inverse * |
| 149 | 95 | inverse / |
| 150 | 96 | inverse = |
| 151 | 97 | inverse > |
| 152 | 98 | inverse < |
| 153 | 99 | inverse ; |
| 154 | 9A | inverse , |
| 155 | 9B | inverse . |
| 156 | 9C | inverse 0 |
| 157 | 9D | inverse 1 |
| 158 | 9E | inverse 2 |
| 159 | 9F | inverse 3 |
| 160 | A0 | inverse 4 |
| 161 | A1 | inverse 5 |
| 162 | A2 | inverse 6 |
| 163 | A3 | inverse 7 |
| 164 | A4 | inverse 8 |
| 165 | A5 | inverse 9 |
| 166 | A6 | inverse A |
| 167 | A7 | inverse B |
| 168 | A8 | inverse C |
| 169 | A9 | inverse D |
| 170 | AA | inverse E |
| 171 | AB | inverse F |
| 172 | AC | inverse G |
| 173 | AD | inverse H |
| 174 | AE | inverse I |
| 175 | AF | inverse J |
| 176 | B0 | inverse K |
| 177 | B1 | inverse L |
| 178 | B2 | inverse M |
| 179 | B3 | inverse N |
| 180 | B4 | inverse O |
| 181 | B5 | inverse P |
| 182 | B6 | inverse Q |
| 183 | B7 | inverse R |
| 184 | B8 | inverse S |
| 185 | B9 | inverse T |
| 186 | BA | inverse U |
| 187 | BB | inverse V |
| 188 | BC | inverse W |
| 189 | BD | inverse X |
| 190 | BE | inverse Y |
| 191 | BF | inverse Z |
| The ZX80 normally displays black text on a white background. The inverse forms of characters reverse this, i.e. white characters in a black square. | ||
| 192 | C0 | not used |
| 193 | C1 | not used |
| 194 | C2 | not used |
| 195 | C3 | not used |
| 196 | C4 | not used |
| 197 | C5 | not used |
| 198 | C6 | not used |
| 199 | C7 | not used |
| 200 | C8 | not used |
| 201 | C9 | not used |
| 202 | CA | not used |
| 203 | CB | not used |
| 204 | CC | not used |
| 205 | CD | not used |
| 206 | CE | not used |
| 207 | CF | not used |
| 208 | D0 | not used |
| 209 | D1 | not used |
| 210 | D2 | not used |
| 211 | D3 | not used |
| Character codes 192 to 211 print as ? | ||
| 212 | D4 | "¹ |
| 213 | D5 | THEN |
| 214 | D6 | TO |
| 215 | D7 | ; |
| 216 | D8 | , |
| 217 | D9 | ) |
| 218 | DA | ( |
| 219 | DB | NOT |
| 220 | DC | - |
| 221 | DD | + |
| 222 | DE | * |
| 223 | DF | / |
| 224 | E0 | AND |
| 225 | E1 | OR |
| 226 | E2 | ** The 'raise to a power' operator |
| 227 | E3 | = |
| 228 | E4 | > |
| 229 | E5 | < |
| The 'less than' and 'greater than' symbols for codes 228 & 229 are shown the wrong way round in Appendix II of the ZX80 manual. | ||
| 230 | E6 | LIST |
| 231 | E7 | RETURN |
| 232 | E8 | CLS |
| 233 | E9 | DIM |
| 234 | EA | SAVE |
| 235 | EB | FOR |
| 236 | EC | GO TO |
| 237 | ED | POKE |
| 238 | EE | INPUT |
| 239 | EF | RANDOMISE |
| 240 | F0 | LET |
| 241 | F1 | not used prints as ? |
| 242 | F2 | not used prints as ? |
| 243 | F3 | NEXT |
| 244 | F4 | |
| 245 | F5 | not used prints as ? |
| 246 | F6 | NEW |
| 247 | F7 | RUN |
| 248 | F8 | STOP |
| 249 | F9 | CONTINUE |
| 250 | FA | IF |
| 251 | FB | GO SUB |
| 252 | FC | LOAD |
| 253 | FD | CLEAR |
| 254 | FE | REM |
| 255 | FF | not used prints as ? |
| Most of the character codes from 213 to 255 are the BASIC keywords. They are stored within the program as a single byte but in listings they are expanded to full words, including a space before and after as necessary to improve readability. The system of storing BASIC's words is used because of the very small memory capacity of the unexpanded ZX80. 'PRINT ' would normally take up six bytes whereas character 244 is only one byte. Strangely though there are eight BASIC functions which are not assigned single-character codes. These are CHR$, STR$, TL$, PEEK, CODE, RND, USR & ABS, and must be typed in full. | ||
| Note: Characters marked ¹ cannot be typed from the keyboard. E.g. character 212 will display as a double quote when printed via its code, but the double quote obtained from Shift Y has code 1. Similarly all characters with codes from 64 to 211 cannot be obtained from the keyboard. Reverse video letters can only be printed using the CHR$ function and their code. | ||