STX
Start of Text
ControlASCII 2 | Hex 0x02 | U+0002
STX (code 2) signals the start of message body content, immediately following any header information introduced by SOH. In point-of-sale terminals and legacy banking protocols, STX and ETX still frame transaction data. The pattern is simple: SOH, then header bytes, then STX, then payload, then ETX. This framing scheme predates modern packet-based networking but remains embedded in hardware protocols for ATMs, card readers, and industrial sensors that predate TCP/IP adoption.
ASCII Code
Decimal
2
Hexadecimal
0x02
Octal
2
Binary
0000 0010
Unicode
Code Point
U+0002
Escape
\u0002
UTF-8 Hex
0xE2 0x90 0x82
UTF-8 Binary
111000101001000010000010
UTF-16
0x0002
UTF-32
0x00000002
HTML Entities
Numeric

Hex

How to Type
HTML Entity

Unicode InputU+0002
Source Code Representations
C / Java
"\u0002"CSS
\0002JavaScript
"\u0002"Perl
\x{0002}Python 2
u"\u0002"Python 3
\u0002Ruby
\u{0002}Frequently Asked Questions
What is ASCII code 2?
ASCII code 2 represents the Start of Text character. In hexadecimal it is 0x02, in binary 0000 0010, and in octal 2. This is a non-printable control character used for device signaling and data transmission control.
How do I type ASCII 2 on a keyboard?
Control characters are typically entered using Ctrl key combinations. For example, Ctrl+B produces ASCII 2 in most terminal emulators. You can also use the HTML entity  in web pages.