Alphanumeric

What Does Alphanumeric Mean?

Alphanumeric refers to a character set with alphabetic characters (A-Z) and numerals (0-9). Other characters also may be included in an alphanumeric character set. Alphanumeric data is useful for storing text and website addresses.

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Alphanumeric is also known as alphameric.

Techopedia Explains Alphanumeric

A stored alphanumeric character with a six-bit length is smaller than a stored American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) code character with an eight-bit length.

For increased security, computer users are encouraged to use alphanumeric characters when setting up passwords, usernames and other identifiers. It is more difficult to break an alphanumeric code than a code of all alphabetic characters or all numbers. Special characters and upper and lower-case alphabetic characters are included, in certain cases.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…