This page was last edited on December 8, 2025
For literacy braille, and most technical materials such as mathematics my default braille code is UEB (Unified English Braille). That said I still use an 8-dot computer braille code called NABCC (North American Braille Computer Code).
The reason for choosing to learn and use the NABCC instead of the "8-dot United Kingdom Computer Braille Code" equivalent, is simply because it is the default braille table for BRLTTY – a background daemon that provides access to the console screen through a refreshable braille display – that allows me to read text output and navigate the console in text mode.
This makes installing a Linux distro with a refreshable braille display much simplier. I also find that the 8-dot braille code is very useful when working on the command line, to get precise representation of computer-related material such as bash commands, its output, program lines, filenames, passwords ... it's also useful for writing code, scripts, and debugging.
NOTE: The special characters have been arranged as they would be found on a UK (United Kingdom) QWERTY keyboard starting in the top left-hand corner and finishing in the bottom right-hand corner.
Table of contents
1. Lowercase letters
| Braille | Dots | |
|---|---|---|
| a | ⠁ | 1 |
| b | ⠃ | 1-2 |
| c | ⠉ | 1-4 |
| d | ⠙ | 1-4-5 |
| e | ⠑ | 1-5 |
| f | ⠋ | 1-2-4 |
| g | ⠛ | 1-2-4-5 |
| h | ⠓ | 1-2-5 |
| i | ⠊ | 2-4 |
| j | ⠚ | 2-4-5 |
| k | ⠅ | 1-3 |
| l | ⠇ | 1-2-3 |
| m | ⠍ | 1-3-4 |
| n | ⠝ | 1-3-4-5 |
| o | ⠕ | 1-3-5 |
| p | ⠏ | 1-2-3-4 |
| q | ⠟ | 1-2-3-4-5 |
| r | ⠗ | 1-2-3-5 |
| s | ⠎ | 2-3-4 |
| t | ⠞ | 2-3-4-5 |
| u | ⠥ | 1-3-6 |
| v | ⠧ | 1-2-3-6 |
| w | ⠺ | 2-4-5-6 |
| x | ⠭ | 1-3-4-6 |
| y | ⠽ | 1-3-4-5-6 |
| z | ⠵ | 1-3-5-6 |
2. Uppercase letters
| Braille | Dots | |
|---|---|---|
| A | ⡁ | 1-7 |
| B | ⡃ | 1-2-7 |
| C | ⡉ | 1-4-7 |
| D | ⡙ | 1-4-5-7 |
| E | ⡑ | 1-5-7 |
| F | ⡋ | 1-2-4-7 |
| G | ⡛ | 1-2-4-5-7 |
| H | ⡓ | 1-2-5-7 |
| I | ⡊ | 2-4-7 |
| J | ⡚ | 2-4-5-7 |
| K | ⡅ | 1-3-7 |
| L | ⡇ | 1-2-3-7 |
| M | ⡍ | 1-3-4-7 |
| N | ⡝ | 1-3-4-5-7 |
| O | ⡕ | 1-3-5-7 |
| P | ⡏ | 1-2-3-4-7 |
| Q | ⡟ | 1-2-3-4-5-7 |
| R | ⡗ | 1-2-3-5-7 |
| S | ⡎ | 2-3-4-7 |
| T | ⡞ | 2-3-4-5-7 |
| U | ⡥ | 1-3-6-7 |
| V | ⡧ | 1-2-3-6-7 |
| W | ⡺ | 2-4-5-6-7 |
| X | ⡭ | 1-3-4-6-7 |
| Y | ⡽ | 1-3-4-5-6-7 |
| Z | ⡵ | 1-3-5-6-7 |
3. Ten (decimal) digits
| Braille | Dots | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ⠂ | 2 |
| 2 | ⠆ | 2-3 |
| 3 | ⠒ | 2-5 |
| 4 | ⠲ | 2-5-6 |
| 5 | ⠢ | 2-6 |
| 6 | ⠖ | 2-3-5 |
| 7 | ⠶ | 2-3-5-6 |
| 8 | ⠦ | 2-3-6 |
| 9 | ⠔ | 3-5 |
| 0 | ⠴ | 3-5-6 |
4. Special characters
| Description | Braille | Dots | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grave Accent | ` | ⠈ | 4 |
| Negation Symbol | ¬ | ⣲ | 2-5-6-7-8 |
| Exclamation Mark | ! | ⠮ | 2-3-4-6 |
| Quote | " | ⠐ | 5 |
| Pound Sign (Sterling) | £ | ⡨ | 4-6-7 |
| Dollar Sign | $ | ⠫ | 1-2-4-6 |
| Percentage Sign | % | ⠩ | 1-4-6 |
| Carat | ^ | ⡘ | 4-5-7 |
| Ampersand | & | ⠯ | 1-2-3-4-6 |
| Asterisk | * | ⠡ | 1-6 |
| Left Round Bracket (Parentheses) | ( | ⠷ | 1-2-3-5-6 |
| Right Round Bracket (Parentheses) | ) | ⠾ | 2-3-4-5-6 |
| Hyphen | _ | ⠤ | 3-6 |
| Underscore | _ | ⠸ | 4-5-6 |
| Equals Sign | = | ⠿ | 1-2-3-4-5-6 |
| Plus Sign | + | ⠬ | 3-4-6 |
| Left Square Bracket | [ | ⡪ | 2-4-6-7 |
| Left Curly Bracket (Brace) | { | ⠪ | 2-4-6 |
| Right Square Bracket | ] | ⡻ | 1-2-4-5-6-7 |
| Right Curly Bracket (Brace) | } | ⠻ | 1-2-4-5-6 |
| Semicolon | ; | ⠰ | 5-6 |
| Colon | : | ⠱ | 1-5-6 |
| Apostrophe | ' | ⠄ | 3 |
| At Sign | @ | ⡈ | 4-7 |
| Number Sign (Hash) | # | ⠼ | 3-4-5-6 |
| Tilde | ~ | ⠘ | 4-5 |
| Backslash | \ | ⡳ | 1-2-5-6-7 |
| Vertical Bar | | | ⠳ | 1-2-5-6 |
| Comma | , | ⠠ | 6 |
| Less-Than Sign | < | ⠣ | 1-2-6 |
| Full Stop (Period) | . | ⠨ | 4-6 |
| Greater-Than Sign | > | ⠜ | 3-4-5 |
| Forward Slash | / | ⠌ | 3-4 |
| Question Mark | ? | ⠹ | 1-4-5-6 |