Alphabet Position of Every Letter — Complete A to Z List

Every letter in the English alphabet has a fixed position from 1 to 26. This complete reference table shows the position, ASCII code, hexadecimal value, and binary representation for all 26 letters. Whether you are solving a cipher, writing code, or studying encoding systems, this page is your definitive resource. Convert any text instantly with our letters to numbers converter.

Complete A-Z Position Table

You can also view this data interactively on our alphabet number chart page.

How to Calculate a Letter's Position Manually

There are several reliable methods to determine a letter's position without looking at a table:

Method 1: The Counting Song

Most people learn the alphabet as a song in childhood. Simply sing or recite while counting: A(1), B(2), C(3)... This works but is slow for letters late in the alphabet.

Method 2: Landmark Letters

Memorize a few "landmark" positions and count from the nearest one:

• A = 1 (start)
• E = 5 (first vowel cluster ends)
• J = 10 (double digits begin)
• M/N = 13/14 (midpoint)
• T = 20 (second-to-last cluster)
• Z = 26 (end)

To find Q's position: start at T = 20 and count backward: S(19), R(18), Q(17). Much faster than counting from A.

Method 3: The ASCII Formula

For programmers, the formula is universal:

Position = ASCII value of uppercase letter - 64

Examples:
  A: 65 - 64 = 1
  M: 77 - 64 = 13
  Z: 90 - 64 = 26

Reverse (position to letter):
  ASCII value = Position + 64
  1 + 64 = 65 → A
  13 + 64 = 77 → M
  26 + 64 = 90 → Z

The Formula in Every Major Language

// JavaScript
const pos = "H".charCodeAt(0) - 64;     // 8
const letter = String.fromCharCode(8 + 64); // "H"

# Python
pos = ord('H') - 64       # 8
letter = chr(8 + 64)      # 'H'

// Java
int pos = 'H' - 'A' + 1;         // 8
char letter = (char)('A' + 8 - 1); // 'H'

// C#
int pos = 'H' - 'A' + 1;         // 8
char letter = (char)('A' + 8 - 1); // 'H'

-- SQL
SELECT ASCII('H') - 64;   -- 8
SELECT CHAR(8 + 64);      -- 'H'  (MySQL)
SELECT CHR(8 + 64);       -- 'H'  (PostgreSQL)

Understanding the Number Systems

Alphabet Position (A1Z26)

The simplest system: A=1 through Z=26. Used in ciphers, puzzles, numerology, and as a teaching tool. Our A1Z26 cipher tool uses this system.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)

The computing standard assigns uppercase letters 65-90 and lowercase letters 97-122. The 32-point gap between cases is intentional: flipping bit 5 (value 32) switches between upper and lowercase.

Hexadecimal

Base-16 representation commonly used in programming, web colors, and memory addresses. Uppercase letters span 0x41-0x5A. Each hex digit represents 4 bits, making binary-to-hex conversion straightforward.

Binary

The fundamental language of computers. Each letter occupies 8 bits (one byte) in ASCII. The 7-bit ASCII standard uses bit 6 as the "letter flag" (always 1 for letters), bit 5 as the case flag, and bits 0-4 for the position offset.

Practical Use Cases

Ciphers and Codes

The A1Z26 position is the basis for many ciphers. The Caesar cipher shifts positions by a fixed amount: with shift 3, A(1) becomes D(4), B(2) becomes E(5), and so on.

Word Value Calculation

Sum all letter positions to get a word's numeric value. For example, "HELLO" = 8+5+12+12+15 = 52. This is used in numerology, puzzles, and even some competitive programming problems.

// Calculate word value in JavaScript
function wordValue(text) {
  return [...text.toUpperCase()]
    .filter(c => c >= 'A' && c <= 'Z')
    .reduce((sum, c) => sum + c.charCodeAt(0) - 64, 0);
}

wordValue("HELLO");    // 52
wordValue("ALPHABET"); // 65
wordValue("ZERO");     // 64

Data Validation

Knowing the ASCII range (65-90 for uppercase, 97-122 for lowercase) lets you validate that a character is a letter:

// JavaScript
function isLetter(c) {
  const code = c.charCodeAt(0);
  return (code >= 65 && code <= 90) ||
         (code >= 97 && code <= 122);
}

Excel Column Conversion

Excel columns use a base-26 system where A=1, Z=26, AA=27, AZ=52. The letter positions from this table are the building blocks for column conversion. See our Excel column converter for an interactive tool.

Memory Tricks

• "EJOTY" — E(5), J(10), O(15), T(20), Y(25). These letters fall at every 5th position.
• Vowel positions: A(1), E(5), I(9), O(15), U(21). Not evenly spaced, but A, E, I form an arithmetic sequence (1, 5, 9) with gap 4.
• Last letters of each "row" of 5: E(5), J(10), O(15), T(20), Y(25), Z(26). Think of the alphabet in rows of 5 with Z tagged onto the end.