What is 101010 in binary text?
Read as a character code, 101010₂ spells '*' — the asterisk. The steps below show why; the binary to text converter decodes longer binary messages the same way.
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How 101010 becomes the character '*'
Text is stored as numbers, one per character. First read 101010 as a number — written as a full byte it is 00101010, and the two extra leading zeros change nothing.
| Bit | Position | Place value | Bit × place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 32 | 32 |
| 0 | 4 | 16 | 0 |
| 1 | 3 | 8 | 8 |
| 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
The 1 bits add up to 32 + 8 + 2 = 42. In the ASCII table, code 42 is the asterisk character — so 101010 as text is '*'. (Yes, 42 again: the same number the decimal-to-binary pages use as their running example.)
In short: 00101010 → 42 → '*'
Frequently asked questions
What character is 101010 in binary?
101010 is the asterisk, '*'. As a number it is 42, and in the ASCII character code, 42 is assigned to '*'.
What does 101010 mean?
It depends on the job the bits are doing. As a plain number, 101010₂ = 42₁₀. As a character code — one byte standing for one character — 42 is '*', so 101010 in a binary message reads as an asterisk.