<<Anchor(faq71)>>
== How do I convert an ASCII character to its decimal (or hexadecimal) value and back? How do I do URL encoding or URL decoding? ==
If you have a known octal or hexadecimal value (at script-writing time), you can just use `printf`:

{{{#!highlight bash
# POSIX
printf '\047\n'

# bash/ksh/zsh and a few other printf implementations also support:
printf '\x27\n'
}}}

In [[locale|locales]] where the character encoding is a superset of ASCII, this prints the literal ' character (47 is the octal ASCII value of the apostrophe character) and a newline. The hexadecimal version can also be used with a few `printf` implementations including the bash builtin, but is not standard/POSIX.

`printf` in bash 4.2 and higher, and in ksh93, supports Unicode code points as well:

{{{#!highlight bash
# bash 4.2, ksh93
printf '\u0027\n'
}}}

Another approach: bash's `$'...'` [[Quotes|quoting]] can be used to expand to the desired characters, either in a variable assignment, or directly as a command argument:

{{{#!highlight bash
ExpandedString=$'\x27\047\u0027\U00000027\n'
printf %s\\n "$ExpandedString"

# or, more simply
printf %s\\n $'\x27\047\u0027\U00000027\n'
}}}

If you need to convert characters (or numeric ASCII values) that are not known in advance (i.e., in variables), you can use something a little more complicated.  '''Note''': These functions ''only'' work for single-byte character encodings.

{{{#!highlight bash
# POSIX
# chr() - converts decimal value to its ASCII character representation
# ord() - converts ASCII character to its decimal value

chr() {
  [ "$1" -lt 256 ] || return 1
  printf "\\$(printf %o "$1")"
}
}}}

Even better to avoid using a subshell is to pass the value inside a variable instead of the command output.
faster as it avoids the subshell
{{{#!highlight bash
chr () {
  local val
  [ "$1" -lt 256 ] || return 1
  printf -v val %o "$1"; printf "\\$val"
  # That one requires bash 3.1 or above.
}
}}}

{{{#!highlight bash
ord() {
  # POSIX
  LC_CTYPE=C printf %d "'$1"
}

# hex() - converts ASCII character to a hexadecimal value
# unhex() - converts a hexadecimal value to an ASCII character

hex() {
   LC_CTYPE=C printf %x "'$1"
}

unhex() {
   printf "\\x$1"
}

# examples:

chr "$(ord A)"    # -> A
ord "$(chr 65)"   # -> 65
}}}

The {{{ord}}} function above is quite tricky.

 . ''Tricky?  Rather, it's using a feature that I can't find documented anywhere -- putting a single quote in front of a character.  Neat effect, but how on '''earth''' did you find out about it?  Source diving? -- GreyCat''
  . ''It validates The Single Unix Specification:  "If the leading character is a single-quote or double-quote, the value shall be the numeric value in the underlying codeset of the character following the single-quote or double-quote."  (see [[http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/utilities/printf.html|printf()]] to know more) -- mjf''

=== URL encoding and URL decoding ===
Note that [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986|URL encoding]] is defined only at the ''byte'' (octet) level.  A URL-encoding of a multibyte (e.g. UTF-8) character is done by simply encoding each byte individually, then concatenating everything.

Also note that the urldecode function below performs no error checking; getting it to yield a sensible error message when you feed it malformed input is left as an exercise for the reader.

{{{#!highlight bash
urlencode() {
    # urlencode <string>
    local LC_ALL=C c i n
    for (( i = 0, n = ${#1}; i < n; i++ )); do
        c=${1:i:1}
        case $c in
            [[:alnum:].~_-]) printf %s "$c" ;;
            *) printf %%%02X "'$c"  ;;
        esac
    done
}
}}}

{{{#!highlight bash
urldecode() {
    # urldecode <string>
    local s
    s=${1//\\/\\\\}
    s=${s//+/ }
    printf %b "${s//'%'/\\x}"
}
}}}

{{{#!highlight bash
# Alternative urlencode, prints all at once (requires bash 3.1)
urlencode() {
    # urlencode <string>
    local LC_ALL=C c i n=${#1}
    local out= tmp
    for (( i=0; i < n; i++ )); do
        c=${1:i:1}
        case $c in
            [[:alnum:].~_-]) printf -v tmp %s "$c" ;;
            *) printf -v tmp %%%02X "'$c"  ;;
        esac
        out+=$tmp
    done
    printf %s "$out"
}
}}}

=== More complete examples (with UTF-8 support) ===

The command-line utility `nkf` can decode URLs:
{{{#!highlight bash
echo 'https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%87%8E%E8%89%AF%E7%8C%AB' | nkf --url-input
}}}

==== Note about Ext Ascii and UTF-8 encoding ====
 ''The following example was never peer-reviewed. Everyone is terrified of it. Proceed at your own risk.''

  * for values 0x00   - 0x7f        Identical
  * for values 0x80   - 0xff        conflict between UTF-8 & ExtAscii
  * for values 0x100  - 0xffff      Only UTF-8 UTF-16 UTF-32
  * for values 0x100  - 0x7FFFFFFF  Only UTF-8 UTF-32

  || value       || EAscii  ||  UTF-8                         ||  UTF-16  || UTF-32                  ||
  || 0x20        || "\x20"  || "\x20"                         ||  \u0020  || \U00000020              ||
  || 0x20        || "\x7f"  || "\x7f"                         ||  \u007f  || \U0000007f              ||
  || 0x80        || "\x80"  || "\xc2\x80"                     ||  \u0080  || \U00000080              ||
  || 0xff        || "\xff"  || "\xc3\xbf"                     ||  \u00ff  || \U000000ff              ||
  || 0x100       || N/A     || "\xc4\x80"                     ||  \u0100  || \U00000100              ||
  || 0x1000      || N/A     || "\xc8\x80"                     ||  \u1000  || \U00001000              ||
  || 0xffff      || N/A     || "\xef\xbf\xbf"                 ||  \uffff  || \U0000ffff              ||
  || 0x10000     || N/A     || "\xf0\x90\x80\x80"             ||  \ud800\udc00 ||     \U00010000     ||
  || 0xfffff     || N/A     || "\xf3\xbf\xbf\xbf"             ||  \udbbf\udfff ||     \U000fffff     ||
  || 0x10000000  || N/A     || "\xfc\x90\x80\x80\x80\x80"     ||  N/A     || \U10000000              ||
  || 0x7fffffff  || N/A     || "\xfd\xbf\xbf\xbf\xbf\xbf"     ||  N/A     || \U7fffffff              ||
  || 0x80000000  || N/A     || N/A                            ||  N/A     || N/A                     ||
  || 0xffffffff  || N/A     || N/A                            ||  N/A     || N/A                     ||

{{{#!highlight bash
  ###########################################################################
  ## ord family
  ###########################################################################
  # ord        <Return Variable Name> <Char to convert> [Optional Format String]
  # ord_hex    <Return Variable Name> <Char to convert>
  # ord_oct    <Return Variable Name> <Char to convert>
  # ord_utf8   <Return Variable Name> <Char to convert> [Optional Format String]
  # ord_eascii <Return Variable Name> <Char to convert> [Optional Format String]
  # ord_echo                      <Char to convert> [Optional Format String]
  # ord_hex_echo                  <Char to convert>
  # ord_oct_echo                  <Char to convert>
  # ord_utf8_echo                 <Char to convert> [Optional Format String]
  # ord_eascii_echo               <Char to convert> [Optional Format String]
  #
  # Description:
  # converts character using native encoding to its decimal value and stores
  # it in the Variable specified
  #
  #       ord
  #       ord_hex         output in hex
  #       ord_hex         output in octal
  #       ord_utf8        forces UTF8 decoding
  #       ord_eascii      forces eascii decoding
  #       ord_echo        prints to stdout
  function ord {
          printf -v "${1?Missing Dest Variable}" "${3:-%d}" "'${2?Missing Char}"
  }
  function ord_oct {
          ord "${@:1:2}" "0%c"
  }
  function ord_hex {
          ord "${@:1:2}" "0x%x"
  }
  function ord_utf8 {
          LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 ord "${@}"
  }
  function ord_eascii {
          LC_CTYPE=C ord "${@}"
  }
  function ord_echo {
          printf "${2:-%d}" "'${1?Missing Char}"
  }
  function ord_oct_echo {
          ord_echo "${1}" "0%o"
  }
  function ord_hex_echo {
          ord_echo "${1}" "0x%x"
  }
  function ord_utf8_echo {
          LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 ord_echo "${@}"
  }
  function ord_eascii_echo {
          LC_CTYPE=C ord_echo "${@}"
  }

  ###########################################################################
  ## chr family
  ###########################################################################
  # chr_utf8   <Return Variale Name> <Integer to convert>
  # chr_eascii <Return Variale Name> <Integer to convert>
  # chr        <Return Variale Name> <Integer to convert>
  # chr_oct    <Return Variale Name> <Octal number to convert>
  # chr_hex    <Return Variale Name> <Hex number to convert>
  # chr_utf8_echo                  <Integer to convert>
  # chr_eascii_echo                <Integer to convert>
  # chr_echo                       <Integer to convert>
  # chr_oct_echo                   <Octal number to convert>
  # chr_hex_echo                   <Hex number to convert>
  #
  # Description:
  # converts decimal value to character representation an stores
  # it in the Variable specified
  #
  #       chr                     Tries to guess output format
  #       chr_utf8                forces UTF8 encoding
  #       chr_eascii              forces eascii encoding
  #       chr_echo                prints to stdout
  #
  function chr_utf8_m {
    local val
    #
    # bash only supports \u \U since 4.2
    #

    # here is an example how to encode
    # manually
    # this will work since Bash 3.1 as it uses -v.
    #
    if [[ ${2:?Missing Ordinal Value} -le 0x7f ]]; then
      printf -v val "\\%03o" "${2}"
    elif [[ ${2} -le 0x7ff        ]]; then
      printf -v val "\\%03o" \
        $((  (${2}>> 6)      |0xc0 )) \
        $(( ( ${2}     &0x3f)|0x80 ))
    elif [[ ${2} -le 0xffff       ]]; then
      printf -v val "\\%03o" \
        $(( ( ${2}>>12)      |0xe0 )) \
        $(( ((${2}>> 6)&0x3f)|0x80 )) \
        $(( ( ${2}     &0x3f)|0x80 ))
    elif [[ ${2} -le 0x1fffff     ]]; then
      printf -v val "\\%03o"  \
        $(( ( ${2}>>18)      |0xf0 )) \
        $(( ((${2}>>12)&0x3f)|0x80 )) \
        $(( ((${2}>> 6)&0x3f)|0x80 )) \
        $(( ( ${2}     &0x3f)|0x80 ))
    elif [[ ${2} -le 0x3ffffff    ]]; then
      printf -v val "\\%03o"  \
        $(( ( ${2}>>24)      |0xf8 )) \
        $(( ((${2}>>18)&0x3f)|0x80 )) \
        $(( ((${2}>>12)&0x3f)|0x80 )) \
        $(( ((${2}>> 6)&0x3f)|0x80 )) \
        $(( ( ${2}     &0x3f)|0x80 ))
    elif [[ ${2} -le 0x7fffffff ]]; then
      printf -v val "\\%03o"  \
        $(( ( ${2}>>30)      |0xfc )) \
        $(( ((${2}>>24)&0x3f)|0x80 )) \
        $(( ((${2}>>18)&0x3f)|0x80 )) \
        $(( ((${2}>>12)&0x3f)|0x80 )) \
        $(( ((${2}>> 6)&0x3f)|0x80 )) \
        $(( ( ${2}     &0x3f)|0x80 ))
    else
      printf -v "${1:?Missing Dest Variable}" ""
      return 1
    fi
    printf -v "${1:?Missing Dest Variable}" "${val}"
  }
  function chr_utf8 {
          local val
          [[ ${2?Missing Ordinal Value} -lt 0x80000000 ]] || return 1

          if [[ ${2} -lt 0x100 && ${2} -ge 0x80 ]]; then

                  # bash 4.2 incorrectly encodes
                  # \U000000ff as \xff so encode manually
                  printf -v val "\\%03o\%03o" $(( (${2}>>6)|0xc0 )) $(( (${2}&0x3f)|0x80 ))
          else
                  printf -v val '\\U%08x' "${2}"
          fi
          printf -v ${1?Missing Dest Variable} ${val}
  }
  function chr_eascii {
          local val
          # Make sure value less than 0x100
          # otherwise we end up with
          # \xVVNNNNN
          # where \xVV = char && NNNNN is a number string
          # so chr "0x44321" => "D321"
          [[ ${2?Missing Ordinal Value} -lt 0x100 ]] || return 1
          printf -v val '\\x%02x' "${2}"
          printf -v ${1?Missing Dest Variable} ${val}
  }
  function chr {
          if [ "${LC_CTYPE:-${LC_ALL:-}}" = "C" ]; then
                  chr_eascii "${@}"
          else
                  chr_utf8 "${@}"
          fi
  }
  function chr_dec {
          # strip leading 0s otherwise
          # interpreted as Octal
          chr "${1}" "${2#${2%%[!0]*}}"
  }
  function chr_oct {
          chr "${1}" "0${2}"
  }
  function chr_hex {
          chr "${1}" "0x${2#0x}"
  }
  function chr_utf8_echo {
          local val
          [[ ${1?Missing Ordinal Value} -lt 0x80000000 ]] || return 1

          if [[ ${1} -lt 0x100 && ${1} -ge 0x80 ]]; then

                  # bash 4.2 incorrectly encodes
                  # \U000000ff as \xff so encode manually
                  printf -v val '\\%03o\\%03o' $(( (${1}>>6)|0xc0 )) $(( (${1}&0x3f)|0x80 ))
          else
                  printf -v val '\\U%08x' "${1}"
          fi
          printf "${val}"
  }
  function chr_eascii_echo {
          local val
          # Make sure value less than 0x100
          # otherwise we end up with
          # \xVVNNNNN
          # where \xVV = char && NNNNN is a number string
          # so chr "0x44321" => "D321"
          [[ ${1?Missing Ordinal Value} -lt 0x100 ]] || return 1
          printf -v val '\\x%x' "${1}"
          printf "${val}"
  }
  function chr_echo {
          if [ "${LC_CTYPE:-${LC_ALL:-}}" = "C" ]; then
                  chr_eascii_echo "${@}"
          else
                  chr_utf8_echo "${@}"
          fi
  }
  function chr_dec_echo {
          # strip leading 0s otherwise
          # interpreted as Octal
          chr_echo "${1#${1%%[!0]*}}"
  }
  function chr_oct_echo {
          chr_echo "0${1}"
  }
  function chr_hex_echo {
          chr_echo "0x${1#0x}"
  }

  #
  # Simple Validation code
  #
  function test_echo_func {
    local Outcome _result
    _result="$( "${1}" "${2}" )"
    [ "${_result}" = "${3}" ] && Outcome="Pass" || Outcome="Fail"
    printf "# %-20s %-6s => "           "${1}" "${2}" "${_result}" "${3}"
    printf "[ "%16q" = "%-16q"%-5s ] "  "${_result}" "${3}" "(${3//[[:cntrl:]]/_})"
    printf "%s\n"                       "${Outcome}"


  }
  function test_value_func {
    local Outcome _result
    "${1}" _result "${2}"
    [ "${_result}" = "${3}" ] && Outcome="Pass" || Outcome="Fail"
    printf "# %-20s %-6s => "           "${1}" "${2}" "${_result}" "${3}"
    printf "[ "%16q" = "%-16q"%-5s ] "  "${_result}" "${3}" "(${3//[[:cntrl:]]/_})"
    printf "%s\n"                       "${Outcome}"
  }
  test_echo_func  chr_echo "$(ord_echo  "A")"  "A"
  test_echo_func  ord_echo "$(chr_echo "65")"  "65"
  test_echo_func  chr_echo "$(ord_echo  "ö")"  "ö"
  test_value_func chr      "$(ord_echo  "A")"  "A"
  test_value_func ord      "$(chr_echo "65")"  "65"
  test_value_func chr      "$(ord_echo  "ö")"  "ö"
  # chr_echo             65     => [                A = A               (A)   ] Pass
  # ord_echo             A      => [               65 = 65              (65)  ] Pass
  # chr_echo             246    => [      $'\303\266' = $'\303\266'     (ö)  ] Pass
  # chr                  65     => [                A = A               (A)   ] Pass
  # ord                  A      => [               65 = 65              (65)  ] Pass
  # chr                  246    => [      $'\303\266' = $'\303\266'     (ö)  ] Pass
  #


  test_echo_func  chr_echo     "65"     A
  test_echo_func  chr_echo     "065"    5
  test_echo_func  chr_dec_echo "065"    A
  test_echo_func  chr_oct_echo "65"     5
  test_echo_func  chr_hex_echo "65"     e
  test_value_func chr          "65"     A
  test_value_func chr          "065"    5
  test_value_func chr_dec      "065"    A
  test_value_func chr_oct      "65"     5
  test_value_func chr_hex      "65"     e
  # chr_echo             65     => [                A = A               (A)   ] Pass
  # chr_echo             065    => [                5 = 5               (5)   ] Pass
  # chr_dec_echo         065    => [                A = A               (A)   ] Pass
  # chr_oct_echo         65     => [                5 = 5               (5)   ] Pass
  # chr_hex_echo         65     => [                e = e               (e)   ] Pass
  # chr                  65     => [                A = A               (A)   ] Pass
  # chr                  065    => [                5 = 5               (5)   ] Pass
  # chr_dec              065    => [                A = A               (A)   ] Pass
  # chr_oct              65     => [                5 = 5               (5)   ] Pass
  # chr_hex              65     => [                e = e               (e)   ] Pass

  #test_value_func chr          0xff   $'\xff'
  test_value_func chr_eascii   0xff   $'\xff'
  test_value_func chr_utf8     0xff   $'\uff'      # Note this fails because bash encodes it incorrectly
  test_value_func chr_utf8     0xff   $'\303\277'
  test_value_func chr_utf8     0x100  $'\u100'
  test_value_func chr_utf8     0x1000 $'\u1000'
  test_value_func chr_utf8     0xffff $'\uffff'
  # chr_eascii           0xff   => [          $'\377' = $'\377'         (�)   ] Pass
  # chr_utf8             0xff   => [      $'\303\277' = $'\377'         (�)   ] Fail
  # chr_utf8             0xff   => [      $'\303\277' = $'\303\277'     (ÿ)  ] Pass
  # chr_utf8             0x100  => [      $'\304\200' = $'\304\200'     (Ā)  ] Pass
  # chr_utf8             0x1000 => [  $'\341\200\200' = $'\341\200\200' (က) ] Pass
  # chr_utf8             0xffff => [  $'\357\277\277' = $'\357\277\277' (���) ] Pass
  test_value_func ord_utf8     "A"           65
  test_value_func ord_utf8     "ä"          228
  test_value_func ord_utf8     $'\303\277'  255
  test_value_func ord_utf8     $'\u100'     256



  #########################################################
  # to help debug problems try this
  #########################################################
  printf "%q\n" $'\xff'                  # => $'\377'
  printf "%q\n" $'\uffff'                # => $'\357\277\277'
  printf "%q\n" "$(chr_utf8_echo 0x100)" # => $'\304\200'
  #
  # This can help a lot when it comes to diagnosing problems
  # with read and or xterm program output
  # I use it a lot in error case to create a human readable error message
  # i.e.
  echo "Enter type to test, Enter to continue"
  while read -srN1 ; do
    ord asciiValue "${REPLY}"
    case "${asciiValue}" in
      10) echo "Goodbye" ; break ;;
      20|21|22) echo "Yay expected input" ;;
      *) printf ':( Unexpected Input 0x%02x %q "%s"\n' "${asciiValue}" "${REPLY}" "${REPLY//[[:cntrl:]]}" ;;
    esac
  done

  #########################################################
  # More exotic approach 1
  #########################################################
  # I used to use this before I figured out the LC_CTYPE=C approach
  # printf "EAsciiLookup=%q" "$(for (( x=0x0; x<0x100 ; x++)); do printf '%b' $(printf '\\x%02x' "$x"); done)"
  EAsciiLookup=$'\001\002\003\004\005\006\a\b\t\n\v\f\r\016\017\020\021\022\023'
  EAsciiLookup+=$'\024\025\026\027\030\031\032\E\034\035\036\037 !"#$%&\'()*+,-'
  EAsciiLookup+=$'./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\\]^_`abcdefghi'
  EAsciiLookup+=$'jklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~\177\200\201\202\203\204\205\206\207\210'
  EAsciiLookup+=$'\211\212\213\214\215\216\217\220\221\222\223\224\225\226\227'
  EAsciiLookup+=$'\230\231\232\233\234\235\236\237\240\241\242\243\244\245\246'
  EAsciiLookup+=$'\247\250\251\252\253\254\255\256\257\260\261\262\263\264\265'
  EAsciiLookup+=$'\266\267\270\271\272\273\274\275\276\277\300\301\302\303\304'
  EAsciiLookup+=$'\305\306\307\310\311\312\313\314\315\316\317\320\321\322\323'
  EAsciiLookup+=$'\324\325\326\327\330\331\332\333\334\335\336\337\340\341\342'
  EAsciiLookup+=$'\343\344\345\346\347\350\351\352\353\354\355\356\357\360\361'
  EAsciiLookup+=$'\362\363\364\365\366\367\370\371\372\373\374\375\376\377'
  function ord_eascii2 {
    local idx="${EAsciiLookup%%${2:0:1}*}"
    eval ${1}'=$(( ${#idx} +1 ))'
  }

  #########################################################
  # More exotic approach 2
  #########################################################
  #printf "EAsciiLookup2=(\n    %s\n)" "$(for (( x=0x1; x<0x100 ; x++)); do printf '%-18s'  "$(printf '[_%q]="0x%02x"' "$(printf "%b" "$(printf '\\x%02x' "$x")")" $x )" ; [ "$(($x%6))" != "0" ] || echo -en "\n    " ; done)"
  typeset -A EAsciiLookup2
  EAsciiLookup2=(
    [_$'\001']="0x01" [_$'\002']="0x02" [_$'\003']="0x03" [_$'\004']="0x04"
    [_$'\005']="0x05" [_$'\006']="0x06" [_$'\a']="0x07"   [_$'\b']="0x08"
    [_$'\t']="0x09"   [_'']="0x0a"      [_$'\v']="0x0b"   [_$'\f']="0x0c"
    [_$'\r']="0x0d"   [_$'\016']="0x0e" [_$'\017']="0x0f" [_$'\020']="0x10"
    [_$'\021']="0x11" [_$'\022']="0x12" [_$'\023']="0x13" [_$'\024']="0x14"
    [_$'\025']="0x15" [_$'\026']="0x16" [_$'\027']="0x17" [_$'\030']="0x18"
    [_$'\031']="0x19" [_$'\032']="0x1a" [_$'\E']="0x1b"   [_$'\034']="0x1c"
    [_$'\035']="0x1d" [_$'\036']="0x1e" [_$'\037']="0x1f" [_\ ]="0x20"
    [_\!]="0x21"      [_\"]="0x22"      [_\#]="0x23"      [_\$]="0x24"
    [_%]="0x25"       [_\&]="0x26"      [_\']="0x27"      [_\(]="0x28"
    [_\)]="0x29"      [_\*]="0x2a"      [_+]="0x2b"       [_\,]="0x2c"
    [_-]="0x2d"       [_.]="0x2e"       [_/]="0x2f"       [_0]="0x30"
    [_1]="0x31"       [_2]="0x32"       [_3]="0x33"       [_4]="0x34"
    [_5]="0x35"       [_6]="0x36"       [_7]="0x37"       [_8]="0x38"
    [_9]="0x39"       [_:]="0x3a"       [_\;]="0x3b"      [_\<]="0x3c"
    [_=]="0x3d"       [_\>]="0x3e"      [_\?]="0x3f"      [_@]="0x40"
    [_A]="0x41"       [_B]="0x42"       [_C]="0x43"       [_D]="0x44"
    [_E]="0x45"       [_F]="0x46"       [_G]="0x47"       [_H]="0x48"
    [_I]="0x49"       [_J]="0x4a"       [_K]="0x4b"       [_L]="0x4c"
    [_M]="0x4d"       [_N]="0x4e"       [_O]="0x4f"       [_P]="0x50"
    [_Q]="0x51"       [_R]="0x52"       [_S]="0x53"       [_T]="0x54"
    [_U]="0x55"       [_V]="0x56"       [_W]="0x57"       [_X]="0x58"
    [_Y]="0x59"       [_Z]="0x5a"       [_\[]="0x5b"      #[_\\]="0x5c"
    #[_\]]="0x5d"
                      [_\^]="0x5e"      [__]="0x5f"       [_\`]="0x60"
    [_a]="0x61"       [_b]="0x62"       [_c]="0x63"       [_d]="0x64"
    [_e]="0x65"       [_f]="0x66"       [_g]="0x67"       [_h]="0x68"
    [_i]="0x69"       [_j]="0x6a"       [_k]="0x6b"       [_l]="0x6c"
    [_m]="0x6d"       [_n]="0x6e"       [_o]="0x6f"       [_p]="0x70"
    [_q]="0x71"       [_r]="0x72"       [_s]="0x73"       [_t]="0x74"
    [_u]="0x75"       [_v]="0x76"       [_w]="0x77"       [_x]="0x78"
    [_y]="0x79"       [_z]="0x7a"       [_\{]="0x7b"      [_\|]="0x7c"
    [_\}]="0x7d"      [_~]="0x7e"       [_$'\177']="0x7f" [_$'\200']="0x80"
    [_$'\201']="0x81" [_$'\202']="0x82" [_$'\203']="0x83" [_$'\204']="0x84"
    [_$'\205']="0x85" [_$'\206']="0x86" [_$'\207']="0x87" [_$'\210']="0x88"
    [_$'\211']="0x89" [_$'\212']="0x8a" [_$'\213']="0x8b" [_$'\214']="0x8c"
    [_$'\215']="0x8d" [_$'\216']="0x8e" [_$'\217']="0x8f" [_$'\220']="0x90"
    [_$'\221']="0x91" [_$'\222']="0x92" [_$'\223']="0x93" [_$'\224']="0x94"
    [_$'\225']="0x95" [_$'\226']="0x96" [_$'\227']="0x97" [_$'\230']="0x98"
    [_$'\231']="0x99" [_$'\232']="0x9a" [_$'\233']="0x9b" [_$'\234']="0x9c"
    [_$'\235']="0x9d" [_$'\236']="0x9e" [_$'\237']="0x9f" [_$'\240']="0xa0"
    [_$'\241']="0xa1" [_$'\242']="0xa2" [_$'\243']="0xa3" [_$'\244']="0xa4"
    [_$'\245']="0xa5" [_$'\246']="0xa6" [_$'\247']="0xa7" [_$'\250']="0xa8"
    [_$'\251']="0xa9" [_$'\252']="0xaa" [_$'\253']="0xab" [_$'\254']="0xac"
    [_$'\255']="0xad" [_$'\256']="0xae" [_$'\257']="0xaf" [_$'\260']="0xb0"
    [_$'\261']="0xb1" [_$'\262']="0xb2" [_$'\263']="0xb3" [_$'\264']="0xb4"
    [_$'\265']="0xb5" [_$'\266']="0xb6" [_$'\267']="0xb7" [_$'\270']="0xb8"
    [_$'\271']="0xb9" [_$'\272']="0xba" [_$'\273']="0xbb" [_$'\274']="0xbc"
    [_$'\275']="0xbd" [_$'\276']="0xbe" [_$'\277']="0xbf" [_$'\300']="0xc0"
    [_$'\301']="0xc1" [_$'\302']="0xc2" [_$'\303']="0xc3" [_$'\304']="0xc4"
    [_$'\305']="0xc5" [_$'\306']="0xc6" [_$'\307']="0xc7" [_$'\310']="0xc8"
    [_$'\311']="0xc9" [_$'\312']="0xca" [_$'\313']="0xcb" [_$'\314']="0xcc"
    [_$'\315']="0xcd" [_$'\316']="0xce" [_$'\317']="0xcf" [_$'\320']="0xd0"
    [_$'\321']="0xd1" [_$'\322']="0xd2" [_$'\323']="0xd3" [_$'\324']="0xd4"
    [_$'\325']="0xd5" [_$'\326']="0xd6" [_$'\327']="0xd7" [_$'\330']="0xd8"
    [_$'\331']="0xd9" [_$'\332']="0xda" [_$'\333']="0xdb" [_$'\334']="0xdc"
    [_$'\335']="0xdd" [_$'\336']="0xde" [_$'\337']="0xdf" [_$'\340']="0xe0"
    [_$'\341']="0xe1" [_$'\342']="0xe2" [_$'\343']="0xe3" [_$'\344']="0xe4"
    [_$'\345']="0xe5" [_$'\346']="0xe6" [_$'\347']="0xe7" [_$'\350']="0xe8"
    [_$'\351']="0xe9" [_$'\352']="0xea" [_$'\353']="0xeb" [_$'\354']="0xec"
    [_$'\355']="0xed" [_$'\356']="0xee" [_$'\357']="0xef" [_$'\360']="0xf0"
    [_$'\361']="0xf1" [_$'\362']="0xf2" [_$'\363']="0xf3" [_$'\364']="0xf4"
    [_$'\365']="0xf5" [_$'\366']="0xf6" [_$'\367']="0xf7" [_$'\370']="0xf8"
    [_$'\371']="0xf9" [_$'\372']="0xfa" [_$'\373']="0xfb" [_$'\374']="0xfc"
    [_$'\375']="0xfd" [_$'\376']="0xfe" [_$'\377']="0xff"
  )
  function ord_eascii3 {
        local -i val="${EAsciiLookup2["_${2:0:1}"]-}"
        if [ "${val}" -eq 0 ]; then
                case "${2:0:1}" in
                        ])  val=0x5d ;;
                        \\) val=0x5c ;;
                esac
        fi
        eval "${1}"'="${val}"'
  }
  # for fun check out the following
  time for (( i=0 ; i <1000; i++ )); do ord TmpVar 'a'; done
  #  real 0m0.065s
  #  user 0m0.048s
  #  sys  0m0.000s

  time for (( i=0 ; i <1000; i++ )); do ord_eascii TmpVar 'a'; done
  #  real 0m0.239s
  #  user 0m0.188s
  #  sys  0m0.000s

  time for (( i=0 ; i <1000; i++ )); do ord_utf8 TmpVar 'a'; done
  #  real	0m0.225s
  #  user	0m0.180s
  #  sys	0m0.000s

  time for (( i=0 ; i <1000; i++ )); do ord_eascii2 TmpVar 'a'; done
  #  real 0m1.507s
  #  user 0m1.056s
  #  sys  0m0.012s

  time for (( i=0 ; i <1000; i++ )); do ord_eascii3 TmpVar 'a'; done
  #  real 0m0.147s
  #  user 0m0.120s
  #  sys  0m0.000s

  time for (( i=0 ; i <1000; i++ )); do ord_echo 'a' >/dev/null ; done
  #  real	0m0.065s
  #  user	0m0.044s
  #  sys	0m0.016s

  time for (( i=0 ; i <1000; i++ )); do ord_eascii_echo 'a' >/dev/null ; done
  #  real	0m0.089s
  #  user	0m0.068s
  #  sys	0m0.008s

  time for (( i=0 ; i <1000; i++ )); do ord_utf8_echo 'a' >/dev/null ; done
  #  real	0m0.226s
  #  user	0m0.172s
  #  sys	0m0.012s

}}}