SGSM-7 Characters
GSM-7 is a character encoding standard which packs the most commonly used letters and symbols in many languages into 7 bits each for usage on GSM networks. As SMS messages are transmitted 140 8-bit octets at a time, GSM-7 encoded SMS messages can carry up to 160 characters. However, when you send an SMS over 160 characters the massage will be split. Large messages are segmented into 153 character segments and sent individually then rebuilt by the recipient's device. For example, a 161 character message will be sent as two messages, one with 153 characters and the second with 8 characters.
The SMS credits are counted by 160 character segments.
- 160 characters = 1 SMS Credit
- 320 characters = 2 SMS Credits
- 480 characters = 3 SMS Credits
- and so on......
However, although the € symbol is part of the GSM-7 it does uses two characters. Messages with one or more non-GSM characters are limited to 70 characters.
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CHARACTER |
CHARACTER |
CHARACTER |
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A - Z |
Capital letters |
: |
Colon |
@ |
At sign |
|
a - z |
Small letter alphabet letters |
; |
Semicolon |
£ |
Pound sign |
|
0 - 9 |
Numbers |
< |
Less-than sign |
$ |
Dollar sign |
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Ä |
A, B,C.. |
= |
Equals sign |
¥ |
Yuan/Yen sign |
|
Ö |
Capital letter O with diaeresis |
> |
Greater-than sign |
€ |
Euro sign |
|
Ñ |
Capital letter N with tilde |
? |
Question mark |
|
Linefeed |
|
Ü |
Capital letter U with diaeresis |
¡ |
Inverted exclamation mark |
_ |
Underscore |
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§ |
Section sign |
|
Space |
Φ |
Capital letter Greek phi |
|
¿ |
Inverted question mark |
! |
Exclamation mark |
Γ |
Capital letter Greek gamma |
|
ä |
Small letter a with diaeresis |
" |
Quotation mark |
Λ |
Capital letter Greek lambda |
|
ö |
Small letter o with diaeresis |
# |
Number sign |
Ω |
Capital letter Greek omega |
|
ñ |
Small letter n with tilde |
¤ |
Currency sign |
Π |
Capital letter Greek pi |
|
ü |
Small letter u with diaeresis |
% |
Percent sign |
Ψ |
Capital letter Greek psi |
|
à |
Small letter a with grave accent |
& |
Ampersand |
Σ |
Capital letter Greek sigma |
|
Ø |
Capital letter O with stroke |
' |
Apostrophe |
Θ |
Capital letter Greek theta |
|
ø |
Small letter o with stroke |
( |
Left parenthesis |
Ξ |
Capital letter Greek xi |
|
|
Carriage return |
) |
Right parenthesis |
|
Escape |
|
Å |
Capital letter A with ring |
* |
Asterisk |
|
Form feed |
|
å |
Small letter a with ring |
+ |
Plus sign |
^ |
Caret / Circumflex |
|
Δ |
Capital letter Greek delta |
, |
Comma |
{ |
Left curly bracket |
|
Æ |
Capital letter AE |
- |
Minus sign / Hyphen |
} |
Right curly bracket |
|
æ |
Small letter ae |
. |
Full stop / Period |
\ |
Backslash |
|
ß |
Small letter German Eszett |
/ |
Slash |
[ |
Left square bracket |
|
É |
Capital letter E with acute accent |
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|
~ |
Tilde |
|
è |
Small letter e with grave accent |
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|
] |
Right square bracket |
|
é |
Small letter e with acute accent |
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|
| |
Vertical bar |
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ù |
Small letter u with grave accent |
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|
|
|
|
ì |
Small letter i with grave accent |
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|
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|
ò |
Small letter o with grave accent |
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Ç |
Capital letter C with cedilla |
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Non-GSM Characters
Non-GSM characters are supported in SMS but act differently. The character limit for a single SMS segment is 70 characters
The characteristics of using GSM characters are:
- 70 characters = 1 SMS Credit
- 140 characters = 2 SMS Credits
- 210 characters = 3 SMS Credits
- and so on.......