ASCII 42
Asterisk (*)
Printable ASCII
Asterisk / star. Multiplication, wildcards, pointer dereference (C), and emphasis (Markdown).
Common uses & context
The character '*' — Asterisk — has ASCII code 42 (0x2A), octal 0052, binary 00101010. Asterisk / star. Multiplication, wildcards, pointer dereference (C), and emphasis (Markdown).
Punctuation and symbol codes carry the most syntactic weight per byte in programming: a single '*' can change how a parser reads an entire expression. When '*' needs to appear as literal data rather than syntax, you often have to escape it — in string literals, in regular expressions, in URLs (where it becomes %2A), or in HTML. Knowing its exact code point (42) helps when you filter, validate, or sanitize input byte by byte.
All encodings at a glance
| Decimal | 42 |
| Hexadecimal | 0x2A |
| Octal | 0052 |
| Binary | 00101010 |
| HTML numeric entity | * |
| URL encoding | %2A |
| UTF-8 bytes | 0x2A |
Code snippets
JavaScript
String.fromCharCode(42); // "*"
42.toString(16); // "2a"Python
chr(42) # '*'
ord(chr(42)) # 42
hex(42) # '0x2a'HTML
* <!-- numeric entity (no named entity for this character) -->Programming notes
- ▸Code 42 (0x2A); URL-encoded form%2A.
- ▸In HTML the numeric entity is *.
- ▸When used as literal data in regex or strings, '*' usually needs escaping — check the rules for your language.
Frequently asked questions
What character is ASCII code 42?
ASCII code 42 is the character '*' (Asterisk). In hexadecimal it is 0x2A, in octal 0052, and in binary 00101010.
What is 0x2A in ASCII?
Hexadecimal 0x2A equals decimal 42, which is the character '*' (Asterisk). To convert hex to ASCII yourself, read the two hex digits as a base-16 number (0x2A = 42) and look up that code point.
How do I write the character with code 42 in code?
In JavaScript use String.fromCharCode(42); in Python use chr(42); in HTML use the numeric entity *. In a URL it is percent-encoded as %2A, and in UTF-8 it is stored as the byte sequence 0x2A.