chr string function in PHP to print ASCII characters

Convert a byte value to a one-character string

chr() returns a one-byte string for the supplied integer value. It is useful for byte-oriented work and ASCII examples; Unicode code points need a Unicode-aware approach.

echo chr(65); // A
echo chr(35); // #

chr() function to print ASCII characters , here are some examples.

$string = "Let us print a variable " . chr(36) . "my_var";echo $string; // Let us print a variable $my_var

Output ( char(36) is $ )

Let us print a variable $my_var

Here are additional printable ASCII examples:

echo "Let us print hash " . chr(35); // Let us print hash #
echo PHP_EOL;echo "Less than " . chr(60); // Less than <

We can use ord function to get ASCII value of any character
For an HTML table, display printable ASCII bytes (32–126) and escape each character before inserting it into markup. Control bytes are omitted because they are not printable.

// Printable ASCII range only: control bytes 0–31 and 127 are omitted.
echo '<table class="table table-sm"><tbody>';for ($i = 32; $i <= 126; $i++) {
    echo '<tr><td>' . $i . '</td><td>'
        . htmlspecialchars(chr($i), ENT_QUOTES | ENT_SUBSTITUTE, 'UTF-8')
        . '</td></tr>';}echo '</tbody></table>';

The printable-ASCII table is generated below:

Byte	Character
32
33	!
34	"
35	#
36	$
37	%
38	&
39	'
40	(
41	)
42	*
43	+
44	,
45	-
46	.
47	/
48	0
49	1
50	2
51	3
52	4
53	5
54	6
55	7
56	8
57	9
58	:
59	;
60	<
61	=
62	>
63	?
64	@
65	A
66	B
67	C
68	D
69	E
70	F
71	G
72	H
73	I
74	J
75	K
76	L
77	M
78	N
79	O
80	P
81	Q
82	R
83	S
84	T
85	U
86	V
87	W
88	X
89	Y
90	Z
91	[
92	\
93	]
94	^
95	_
96	`
97	a
98	b
99	c
100	d
101	e
102	f
103	g
104	h
105	i
106	j
107	k
108	l
109	m
110	n
111	o
112	p
113	q
114	r
115	s
116	t
117	u
118	v
119	w
120	x
121	y
122	z
123	{
124	\|
125	}
126	~

Example 2: Creating Special Character Symbols for HTML Entities

A byte above 127 is not automatically a valid UTF-8 character. In HTML, use an entity or a UTF-8 literal for a copyright symbol; reserve chr() for the appropriate byte-oriented use:

// chr(169) is one byte, not a UTF-8 copyright symbol.
// For an HTML document, output an HTML entity instead:
echo 'Copyright: &copy; 2026';

Example 3: Using chr() for Character Ranges

ASCII letter ranges can be generated with a loop:

for ($i = 65; $i <= 90; $i++) {
    echo chr($i) . " "; // A through Z
}

String Functions ord()

Subhendu Mohapatra

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Byte	Character
32
33	!
34	"
35	#
36	$
37	%
38	&
39	'
40	(
41	)
42	*
43	+
44	,
45	-
46	.
47	/
48	0
49	1
50	2
51	3
52	4
53	5
54	6
55	7
56	8
57	9
58	:
59	;
60	<
61	=
62	>
63	?
64	@
65	A
66	B
67	C
68	D
69	E
70	F
71	G
72	H
73	I
74	J
75	K
76	L
77	M
78	N
79	O
80	P
81	Q
82	R
83	S
84	T
85	U
86	V
87	W
88	X
89	Y
90	Z
91	[
92	\
93	]
94	^
95	_
96	`
97	a
98	b
99	c
100	d
101	e
102	f
103	g
104	h
105	i
106	j
107	k
108	l
109	m
110	n
111	o
112	p
113	q
114	r
115	s
116	t
117	u
118	v
119	w
120	x
121	y
122	z
123	{
124	\|
125	}
126	~

Byte	Character
32
33	!
34	"
35	#
36	$
37	%
38	&
39	'
40	(
41	)
42	*
43	+
44	,
45	-
46	.
47	/
48	0
49	1
50	2
51	3
52	4
53	5
54	6
55	7
56	8
57	9
58	:
59	;
60	<
61	=
62	>
63	?
64	@
65	A
66	B
67	C
68	D
69	E
70	F
71	G
72	H
73	I
74	J
75	K
76	L
77	M
78	N
79	O
80	P
81	Q
82	R
83	S
84	T
85	U
86	V
87	W
88	X
89	Y
90	Z
91	[
92	\
93	]
94	^
95	_
96	`
97	a
98	b
99	c
100	d
101	e
102	f
103	g
104	h
105	i
106	j
107	k
108	l
109	m
110	n
111	o
112	p
113	q
114	r
115	s
116	t
117	u
118	v
119	w
120	x
121	y
122	z
123	{
124	\|
125	}
126	~

chr(): character from the specified ASCII value

Convert a byte value to a one-character string

Example 2: Creating Special Character Symbols for HTML Entities

Example 3: Using *chr()* for Character Ranges

Subhendu Mohapatra

Example 3: Using chr() for Character Ranges

Byte	Character
32
33	!
34	"
35	#
36	$
37	%
38	&
39	'
40	(
41	)
42	*
43	+
44	,
45	-
46	.
47	/
48	0
49	1
50	2
51	3
52	4
53	5
54	6
55	7
56	8
57	9
58	:
59	;
60	<
61	=
62	>
63	?
64	@
65	A
66	B
67	C
68	D
69	E
70	F
71	G
72	H
73	I
74	J
75	K
76	L
77	M
78	N
79	O
80	P
81	Q
82	R
83	S
84	T
85	U
86	V
87	W
88	X
89	Y
90	Z
91	[
92	\
93	]
94	^
95	_
96	`
97	a
98	b
99	c
100	d
101	e
102	f
103	g
104	h
105	i
106	j
107	k
108	l
109	m
110	n
111	o
112	p
113	q
114	r
115	s
116	t
117	u
118	v
119	w
120	x
121	y
122	z
123	{
124	\|
125	}
126	~