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Text to Octal

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Octal is the forgotten cousin of hex: a base-8 numbering system where each digit represents exactly 3 bits. Unix file permissions (755, 644) are written in octal, and every character has an octal code just like it has a decimal and hex one. Paste text and this converter returns the octal code for each byte; paste space-separated octal codes and it gives the original text back.

How to convert text to octal

  1. 1

    Enter text

    Plain characters; UTF-8 encoding is assumed for non-ASCII input.

  2. 2

    Each byte becomes an octal code

    `A` = 65 decimal = `101` octal. `Z` = 90 = `132`. A space = 32 = `40`.

  3. 3

    Codes are space-separated

    Byte codes are joined with single spaces (`Hi` becomes `110 151`). No leading zeros are added.

  4. 4

    Decode by pasting octal

    Switch to Octal → Text and paste space-separated octal values; each value from 0 to 255 becomes one byte.

Octal quick examples

Character Decimal Octal Binary
A 65 101 1000001
a 97 141 1100001
0 48 60 0110000
space 32 40 0100000
\n 10 12 0001010

Why octal still matters

Most modern systems prefer hex because two hex digits equal one byte cleanly. Octal lingers in a few places:

  • Unix file permissions: chmod 755 means owner = 7 (rwx), group = 5 (r-x), other = 5 (r-x). Each digit is three permission bits.
  • C/Python escape sequences: \101 in a string literal is A. A leading zero in C integer literals (int x = 0755) is interpreted as octal, a known footgun.
  • Embedded and retro systems: older 12-, 18- and 36-bit architectures aligned nicely with octal.
  • umask values: umask 022 sets the default file permission mask to 755.

File permission table

Octal digit Permissions Binary
0 --- 000
1 --x 001
2 -w- 010
3 -wx 011
4 r-- 100
5 r-x 101
6 rw- 110
7 rwx 111

So chmod 644 = owner rw-, group r--, other r--, the default for a readable text file.

Gotchas

  • Leading zeros matter in C. int a = 010; sets a to 8, not 10. Python 3 dropped this; always use 0o10 instead.
  • Octal only uses digits 0-7. 8 and 9 are invalid in octal. If you see them, the source is not octal.
  • Unicode bytes get bigger in octal. A UTF-8 emoji (4 bytes) becomes 4 three-digit octal codes, twelve characters. Hex would be eight. Hex wins for most display purposes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Mostly never, unless you’re dealing with Unix permissions or C-string escapes that use \NNN format. Hex is more compact and easier to read byte-by-byte.

Because each octal digit corresponds exactly to three permission bits (read, write, execute). The notation was baked into AT&T Unix in 1971 and never left, it maps elegantly to the underlying bit pattern.

Yes. Switch to Octal → Text and paste space-separated octal values (for example 110 151). Each value from 0 to 255 is turned back into one byte, so multi-byte UTF-8 characters decode from their individual byte codes.

Your text is sent to our server only to perform the conversion and is not stored or logged.

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