Morse Code Translator
Translate text to Morse code and decode dots and dashes back to text.
Letters are separated by a space and words by a slash (/). Translation is case-insensitive.
Morse code represents each letter and digit as a pattern of short dots and long dashes. Letters are separated by a space and words by a slash. Type text to encode it, or paste dots and dashes to decode. The distress call SOS is “··· ––– ···” — three dots, three dashes, three dots.
What Morse code is
Morse code encodes text as sequences of two signals: a short one (a “dot” or dit) and a long one (a “dash” or dah). Devised in the 1830s–40s for the electrical telegraph by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail, it let a single wire carry language one click at a time. The international standard used today is ITU Morse code, which fixes the pattern for every letter, digit, and common punctuation mark.
The translator above works both ways. In Text → Morse, each character becomes its dot-and-dash pattern; letters are joined by a single space and whole words by a slash (/). In Morse → Text, it reverses that: it splits on spaces and slashes and looks each token up in the same chart. Translation is case-insensitive, so “SOS” and “sos” give the identical code.
- 1 Read one symbol at a time. A short mark is a dot (·) and a long mark is a dash (–). Sound them out as “dit” and “dah” to keep the rhythm.
- 2 Group symbols into a letter. A gap the length of one dash ends a letter. For example ··· is S, ––– is O, so ··· ––– ··· reads S-O-S.
- 3 Watch for the word gap. A longer gap (shown here as a slash “/”) separates words. “.... ..” / “-.-- ---” is HI YO.
- 4 Translate letter by letter. Match each group to the chart below: .- is A, -... is B, and so on through -----(0) to ----.(9).
- 5 Check against the chart. HELLO encodes to “.... . .-.. .-.. ---” — H, E, L, L, O. Paste it into the decoder above to confirm.
Letters — A to Z
The international (ITU) Morse code for every letter of the alphabet.
| Letter | Morse | Letter | Morse |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | ·– | N | –· |
| B | –··· | O | ––– |
| C | –·–· | P | ·––· |
| D | –·· | Q | ––·– |
| E | · | R | ·–· |
| F | ··–· | S | ··· |
| G | ––· | T | – |
| H | ···· | U | ··– |
| I | ·· | V | ···– |
| J | ·––– | W | ·–– |
| K | –·– | X | –··– |
| L | ·–·· | Y | –·–– |
| M | –– | Z | ––·· |
Numbers — 0 to 9
Digits use a clean five-symbol pattern that shifts from all dots to all dashes.
| Digit | Morse | Digit | Morse |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | ––––– | 5 | ····· |
| 1 | ·–––– | 6 | –···· |
| 2 | ··––– | 7 | ––··· |
| 3 | ···–– | 8 | –––·· |
| 4 | ····– | 9 | ––––· |
Timing, spacing, and gaps
Real Morse is defined by relative durations, not fixed clock times. One dot is the base unit. A dash lasts three units. The gap between symbols inside a letter is one unit; the gap between letters is three units; and the gap between words is seven units. That is why the code needs no separate symbol for a space — silence of the right length does the job. In writing, we stand in for those two longer gaps with a space (between letters) and a slash (between words).
Why SOS and its history
Morse carried the world’s telegraphs and, later, ship-to-shore radio. SOS was adopted internationally in 1908 as a distress signal precisely because “··· ––– ···” is short, symmetrical, and unmistakable even in noise — it is sent as one continuous string with no letter gaps, so it is not really the letters S-O-S at all, just an easy-to-remember pattern. Today Morse survives in aviation navigation beacons, amateur radio, and as an accessible way to signal with light or sound when nothing else is available.