Morse Code Keyboard Online – Translate Text to Morse Code
Free Online Morse Code Keyboard – Turn Text Into Dots and Dashes
Welcome to the Morse code keyboard online — a free encoder that writes out the code for you. Every key inserts that character's Morse plus a trailing space, so pressing S, O, S gives you ... --- ... straight away. Letters, digits and the common punctuation marks are all on the layout.
Where it came from. The code grew out of the electric telegraph Samuel Morse developed with Alfred Vail in the 1830s and 1840s; the famous Washington-to-Baltimore line opened in 1844. The letter assignments are generally credited to Vail, who is said to have judged letter frequency from a printer's type case — which is why E is a single dot and T a single dash.
Two Morse codes. The original American Morse used on US land lines had internal spaces inside some characters and never travelled well. A German revision by Friedrich Gerke in 1848 became the basis of the version agreed internationally in 1865 and now maintained by the ITU. That is International Morse, and it is what this keyboard produces.
Timing is the whole system. A dot is one unit long and a dash three. Gaps follow the same arithmetic: one unit between the elements of a letter, three between letters, seven between words. That is why the keyboard puts a space after each letter and offers / on the Slash key as the standard word separator.
About SOS. Adopted internationally at the 1906 Berlin radiotelegraph convention, ... --- ... was chosen because three dots, three dashes and three dots is unmistakable even through interference. It is not an abbreviation — "Save Our Ship" and "Save Our Souls" were attached to it later.
Still in use. Commercial shipping retired Morse in 1999 when the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System took over, but the code did not die. Radio amateurs still work CW every day, and aviation navigation beacons identify themselves by repeating a two- or three-letter Morse ident that pilots check by ear.
How to use it. Click the on-screen keys or type on your physical keyboard — Shift changes nothing, because Morse has no upper and lower case. The bracket keys give a bare dot and a bare dash for composing sequences by hand, and the copy button takes the finished string anywhere. Handy for CW practice, puzzles, engraved jewellery and classroom teaching.
Your privacy is guaranteed – all typing happens 100% locally in your browser. Nothing you write is sent to a server, stored, or logged.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does this Morse code keyboard work?
It encodes as you type. Each key inserts the Morse for that character followed by a space, so A gives ".-", B gives "-..." and typing S, O, S produces "... --- ...". Digits and punctuation work the same way, and the copy button hands you the finished string.
Can it decode Morse code back into text?
No. This keyboard only goes one way: it converts letters into dots and dashes. There is no decoder here that reads a string of Morse and returns plain English, so use it for writing Morse rather than for deciphering a message someone has sent you.
What is the / key for?
It is the word separator. Because a letter gap is three time units and a word gap is seven, written Morse needs a marker between words. The convention is a forward slash, so "hi there" is written .... .. / - .... . .-. . with the slash standing in for the longer pause.
How do I type SOS?
Just press S, then O, then S. The keyboard writes ... --- ... for you. If you want it as one unbroken prosign with no letter gaps, use the bracket keys, which insert a single dot and a single dash so you can build the sequence by hand.
Which Morse standard does this use?
International Morse Code, the ITU standard descended from Friedrich Gerke's 1848 revision and agreed internationally in 1865. It is not American Morse, the older land-line variant that used internal spaces inside some characters and different codes for several letters.
How is Morse code timed?
Everything is measured in one unit, the length of a dot. A dash lasts three units. Within a letter, elements are separated by one unit; letters are separated by three; words by seven. Speed changes the unit length but never the ratios, which is why Morse stays readable at any pace.
Does SOS stand for anything?
No. It was adopted at the 1906 Berlin radiotelegraph convention because the pattern of three dots, three dashes and three dots is easy to recognise through noise. "Save Our Ship" and "Save Our Souls" are backronyms invented afterwards, not the reason the signal was chosen.
How do I write my name in Morse code?
Type it letter by letter here and the keyboard spaces the characters correctly. For a one-step conversion, our <a href="/name-in/morse">name in Morse code</a> page takes a name and returns the full sequence of dots and dashes ready to copy.
Is this Morse code translator free and private?
Yes on both counts. It costs nothing, needs no account and has no length limit. All the encoding happens locally in your browser with JavaScript, so nothing you type is transmitted to a server, stored, or logged.
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