Deprecated - please use the JSON API instead.

Allowed characters

The following are the allowed characters for 7-bit text messages:

The allowed character set is given below. You do not have to transliterate any characters to the GSM characterset: this is done automatically for you as far as possible. All characters given in the GSM 03.38 specification are supported.

For background, see this Wikipedia.org article. Note that under certain circumstances, characters not included in this list can be sent as 16-bit Unicode, instead.

Any characters that you submit which do not fall within this set, will be replaced by a full stop or question mark. Your submission will not fail.

Character ASCII decimal value ASCII hex value
[newline] 10 0A
[carriage return] 13 0D
[space] 32 20
! 33 21
” 34 22
# 35 23
$ 36 24
% 37 25
& 38 26
’ 39 27
( 40 28
) 41 29
* 42 2A
+ 43 2B
, 44 2C
- 45 2D
. 46 2E
/ 47 2F
0 48 30
1 49 31
2 50 32
3 51 33
4 52 34
5 53 35
6 54 36
7 55 37
8 56 38
9 57 39
: 58 3A
; 59 3B
< 60 3C
= 61 3D
> 62 3E
? 63 3F
@ 64 40
A 65 41
B 66 42
C 67 43
D 68 44
E 69 45
F 70 46
G 71 47
H 72 48
I 73 49
J 74 4A
K 75 4B
L 76 4C
M 77 4D
N 78 4E
O 79 4F
P 80 50
Q 81 51
R 82 52
S 83 53
T 84 54
U 85 55
V 86 56
W 87 57
X 88 58
Y 89 59
Z 90 5A
_ 95 5F
a 97 61
b 98 62
c 99 63
d 100 64
e 101 65
f 102 66
g 103 67
h 104 68
i 105 69
j 106 6A
k 107 6B
l 108 6C
m 109 6D
n 110 6E
o 111 6F
p 112 70
q 113 71
r 114 72
s 115 73
t 116 74
u 117 75
v 118 76
w 119 77
x 120 78
y 121 79
z 122 7A
¡ 161 A1
£ 163 A3
¤ 164 A4
¥ 165 A5
§ 167 A7
¿ 191 BF
Ä 196 C4
Å 197 C5
Æ 198 C6
Ç 199 C7
É 201 C9
Ñ 209 D1
Ö 214 D6
Ø 216 D8
Ü 220 DC
ß 223 DF
à 224 E0
ä 228 E4
å 229 E5
æ 230 E6
è 232 E8
é 233 E9
ì 236 EC
ñ 241 F1
ò 242 F2
ö 246 F6
ø 248 F8
ù 249 F9
ü 252 FC

Example text: Test SMS with General characters: &(ampersand), $(dollar sign), %(percent sign), @(at sign)

EAPI_URL/submission/send_sms/2/2.0?username=john&password=abcd1234&msisdn=44123123456&message=Test+SMS+with+General+characters%3A+%26%28ampersand%29%2C+%24%28dollar+sign%29%2C+%25%28percent+sign%29+and+%40%28at+sign%29

Greek characters are mapped onto extended ASCII characters which are unused in the GSM character set:

Greek characters

Character Equivalent ASCII decimal value ASCII hex value
Δ (delta) Ð 208 D0
Φ (phi) Þ 222 DE
Γ (gamma) ¬ 172 AC
Λ (lambda) Â 194 C2
Ω (omega) Û 219 DB
Π (pi) º 186 BA
Ψ (psi) Ý 221 DD
Σ (sigma) Ê 202 CA
Θ (theta) Ô 212 D4
Ξ (xi) ± 177 B1

Example text: Test SMS with Greek characters: Δ(delta), Ω(omega), Σ(sigma) and Π(pi)

EAPI_URL/submission/send_sms/2/2.0?username=john&password=abcd1234&msisdn=44123123456&message=Test+SMS+with+Greek+characters%3A+%D0%28delta%29%2C+%DB%28omega%29%2C+%CA%28sigma%29+and+%BA%28pi%29

Extended GSM characters are only supported on certain networks - please test before sending large volumes. Please note that extended characters each require double the space required by a regular GSM character - for instance, the maximum length of an SMS containing only extended characters would be 80 characters, instead of the normal 160 characters. Submit the (ASCII 187 / hex BB) character, followed by one of the following:

Character Equivalent ASCII decimal value ASCII hex value
\f (form feed) \n (newline) 10 0A
^ (circumflex accent/caret) dc4 20 14
{ ( 40 28
} ) 41 29
\ / 47 2F
[ < 60 3C
~ = 61 3D
] > 62 3E
| @ 64 40
€ (Euro sign) e 101 65

Example text: Test SMS with Extended GSM characters: ~ (tilde) and € (Euro sign)

EAPI_URL/submission/send_sms/2/2.0?username=john&password=abcd1234&msisdn=44123123456&message=Test+SMS+with+Extended+GSM+characters%3A+%BB%3D%28tilde%29+and+%BB%65%28Euro+sign%29
Quick Start Overview Submission Reception Status Reports Phonebook Account