Morse code punctuation: the marks and how to send each one
Morse code punctuation marks are longer than letters, most of them six elements: the period is .-.-.-, the comma --..-- and the question mark ..--... The international standard for Morse (ITU-R M.1677-1) includes the period, comma, question mark, apostrophe, hyphen, slash, both parentheses, quotation marks, colon, equals sign, plus sign and at sign. The exclamation mark, ampersand, semicolon, dollar sign and underscore are not in the standard, but they are commonly used. Below is each mark with its code, its rhythm, and how to send it so it is read as one character.
The marks in the ITU standard
The last column is a memory aid: each code reads like a few letters run together with no gaps between them. You do not send it as those letters, but the letters help you remember the shape.
| Mark | Code | Rhythm | Reads like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Period (full stop) | .-.-.- |
di-dah-di-dah-di-dah | AAA |
Comma , |
--..-- |
dah-dah-di-di-dah-dah | MIM |
Question mark ? |
..--.. |
di-di-dah-dah-di-dit | IMI |
Apostrophe ' |
.----. |
di-dah-dah-dah-dah-dit | WG |
| Hyphen or minus | -....- |
dah-di-di-di-di-dah | BA |
Slash / |
-..-. |
dah-di-di-dah-dit | DN |
Open parenthesis ( |
-.--. |
dah-di-dah-dah-dit | KN |
Close parenthesis ) |
-.--.- |
dah-di-dah-dah-di-dah | KK |
Quotation marks " |
.-..-. |
di-dah-di-di-dah-dit | RR |
Colon : |
---... |
dah-dah-dah-di-di-dit | OS |
Equals = |
-...- |
dah-di-di-di-dah | BT |
Plus + |
.-.-. |
di-dah-di-dah-dit | AR |
At sign @ |
.--.-. |
di-dah-dah-di-dah-dit | AC |
The ITU added the at sign to the standard in 2004. It is the mark you need to send an email address.
A few of the shapes are worth noticing. The period is A three times over. The question mark is the comma’s exact opposite: the comma is two dahs, two dits, two dahs, and swapping every element gives the question mark’s two dits, two dahs, two dits. The hyphen begins and ends with a dah around four dits. The two parentheses share their first five elements, and the closing one adds a final dah.
The common extras
These five are widely used and you will meet them in tables and in practice text, but they are not part of the ITU standard, so treat them as common usage rather than official.
| Mark | Code | Rhythm | Reads like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exclamation mark | -.-.-- |
dah-di-dah-di-dah-dah | KW |
Ampersand & |
.-... |
di-dah-di-di-dit | AS |
Semicolon ; |
-.-.-. |
dah-di-dah-di-dah-dit | KR |
Dollar sign $ |
...-..- |
di-di-di-dah-di-di-dah | SX |
Underscore _ |
..--.- |
di-di-dah-dah-di-dah | IQ |
The dollar sign is the only mark in either table with seven elements.
How to send a punctuation mark cleanly
Send it as one character. Every gap inside the mark is the one-unit gap that belongs inside a character. If a three-unit gap creeps in, the receiver hears letters instead: a period sent with gaps becomes A A A, and a question mark becomes I M I. That is why the “reads like” column is a memory aid and not a sending instruction.
Attach it to the word. In Morse a punctuation mark is a character of the word it follows, just as it is in print. So “HI.” is H, a letter gap, I, a letter gap, the period, and only then a word gap:
.... .. .-.-.- / -- --- --
That reads HI. MOM, with the period sent as part of HI. A word gap before the period would make it look like a word on its own.
Expect it to take time. Punctuation is slow. Counting a dit as 1 unit, a dah as 3 and each gap inside the mark as 1, a comma takes 19 units and a period 17, against 1 unit for E. At 20 WPM a comma lasts more than a second. Morse code timing explains the unit and how it scales with speed.
Learn each one by its sound. Six elements is too many to count at speed. The marks have strong rhythms of their own: the comma’s dah-dah, di-di, dah-dah is symmetrical, and the question mark’s di-di-dah-dah-di-dit is hard to mistake once you have heard it a few times.
Punctuation on the air
On amateur radio, every mark costs time, so punctuation is kept to where it helps. These are the ones you are likely to hear:
- The question mark. It turns a Q code or a word into a question. QTH means “my location is”; QTH followed by
..--..asks “what is your location?” Q codes in Morse code lists the common ones. - BT,
-...-. The same code as the equals sign, sent as a break between thoughts or to start a new paragraph. - AR,
.-.-.. The same code as the plus sign, sent at the end of a message. - The slash. It turns up in some callsigns.
When the same pattern does two jobs, context tells the receiver which one is meant: -...- in a sum is an equals sign, and between two sentences it is a break. Morse code prosigns explained covers the codes that double as procedure signals, including KN, which is the same as the open parenthesis, and AS, the same as the ampersand.
Marks Morse has no code for
Morse has no code for the hash sign, the percent sign, emoji and most other symbols, and it has only one apostrophe and one set of quotation marks, the same code for opening and closing. Curly and straight quotes are all the same to Morse. The parentheses, on the other hand, have different codes for opening and closing.
If you need a mark Morse lacks, spell it out: PERCENT, NUMBER, HASH. That is clearer for the receiver than any improvised pattern, which nobody else will know.
If you turn text into Morse on a Mac, Dot & Dash handles all of the marks above in its Text to Morse, reads curly quotes as plain ones, and shows a character Morse has no code for as ? with a note saying so. Its course teaches the period, comma and question mark in chapter 17, and the slash, apostrophe and exclamation mark in chapter 18, keyed like any other character.
Questions
Is the exclamation mark part of Morse code?
It is not in the ITU standard, but -.-.--, dah-di-dah-di-dah-dah, is the code commonly used for it.
What is the Morse code for the at sign?
The at sign is .--.-., di-dah-dah-di-dah-dit. The ITU added it to the standard in 2004, and it is the mark you need to send an email address.
Why does the plus sign sound like AR?
They are the same pattern, .-.-.. In written text it is a plus sign; sent at the end of a message on the air, it is the prosign AR, meaning end of message. Context tells you which.
How do I send a question in Morse code?
Send the words, then the question mark, ..--.., attached to the last word with a normal letter gap. On the air, a Q code followed by the question mark becomes a question: QTH and the question mark asks for the other station’s location.