Numbers in use: 1 to 26
Letters to numbers
Numbers to letters
Letter number chart, A to Z
Every letter with its position in A1Z26 and in A0Z25. Find a letter in the top row and read its number underneath.
| Letter | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1Z26 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| A0Z25 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Letter | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1Z26 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| A0Z25 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| Letter | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1Z26 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| A0Z25 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
How the A1Z26 cipher works
The cipher has one rule: a letter becomes the number of its place in the alphabet. A is the 1st letter, so A=1. B=2, C=3, and the count runs on to Z=26. Upper and lower case give the same number, so Hello and HELLO both encode to 8 5 12 12 15.
Take the word CAT. C is the 3rd letter, A is the 1st and T is the 20th, so CAT becomes 3 1 20. This page counts letter positions, not numerology totals, so no digits are added together.
A0Z25 is the same cipher counted from zero: A=0, B=1 and Z=25, so abc becomes 0 1 2. Tick Count from zero above the converter to switch both boxes at once. A clue that contains a 0 can only be A0Z25, because A1Z26 has no 0, and a clue that contains 26 can only be A1Z26.
It is also not the ASCII code of a letter. ASCII numbers every character a computer stores, so the capital H is 72 in ASCII and 8 here. The ASCII Converter gives those character codes.
Turn numbers back into letters
- Type or paste the numbers into the Numbers to letters box, separated by spaces, commas or dashes.
- Read the letters in the output box: 8 5 12 12 15 gives HELLO.
- Type a slash between words to keep them apart, then press Copy to take the result.
A number outside 1 to 26 (outside 0 to 25 in A0Z25) is not a letter, so it is shown as you typed it and counted under the box.
Letters to numbers, answered
What is the A1Z26 cipher?
A1Z26 is the simplest letter-to-number cipher: each letter is replaced by its position in the alphabet, so A is 1, B is 2 and Z is 26. The name comes from the first and last pair, A=1 and Z=26. It has no key, which makes it a common first code for puzzles, scavenger hunts and classroom activities.
What number is the letter X?
X is 24 in A1Z26 because it is the 24th letter of the alphabet. In the A0Z25 variant, which starts at zero, X is 23. Its neighbours in A1Z26 are W = 23 and Y = 25, and the chart above lists every letter.
How do I decode 8 5 12 12 15?
Paste the numbers into the Numbers to letters box. 8 is H, 5 is E, 12 is L twice and 15 is O, so the answer is HELLO. Separate numbers with spaces, commas or dashes, and type a slash between words to keep the word breaks: 8 5 12 12 15 / 23 15 18 12 4 reads HELLO WORLD.
What happens to spaces, punctuation, digits and accents?
Spaces, punctuation and digits stay exactly where you typed them and only the letters change, so Hello, World! becomes 8 5 12 12 15, 23 15 18 12 4!. Untick Keep spaces, digits and punctuation to drop them and get the letter numbers alone. Accented Latin letters use their base letter, so café becomes 3 1 6 5. Letters from other alphabets, such as Cyrillic, Greek or Chinese, have no place in A to Z, so they are left as typed and the converter shows how many it passed over.
How is this different from ASCII codes?
ASCII gives every character a code that a computer stores, so the capital H is 72 and the lowercase h is 104. A1Z26 only counts a letter's place in the alphabet, so H and h are both 8. Use the ASCII Converter when you need character codes, and this page when you need letter positions.
Need stylized text instead?
UltraTextGen turns plain text into bold, italic, cursive, and 100+ other Unicode font styles. Free and instant.
Open UltraTextGen →ASCII Converter
Character codes in decimal, hex, binary and octal, where the capital H is 72.
ASCII Table
The full reference chart: every ASCII code 33–126 with decimal, hex, binary, and octal values.
Word Search Maker
Hide a word list in a printable grid, with a different grid for every child.
Crossword Maker
Type your own words and clues and print a crossword built from them.