Convert octal to text

Convert text to octal. Each character is represented by three numbers. Octo or octal refers to a base 8 numeral system.  Digits 0 to 7 are used. Binary numbers can make up octal number. For an octal system each decimal place is a power of eight, in contrast to a decimal system where each place is a power of ten.

Oct for short, the octal numeral system or base 8 system provides an easy conversion from binary. Three binary digits represent one octal digit. Octal 0 is binary 000. You make octal numbers from binary numbers by grouping binary digits into groups of three.

In computer applications octal started to be used when systems used 12, 24, or 36 bit words, and octal became a handy short form for binary. You can divide word size by 3, and an octal digit represents three binary digits. So you can use 4, 8, or 12 digits to display a machine word. You can also use octal for displays in application for a calculator where binary is too complicated.

In today’s programming languages, hexadecimal is common. Two hexadecimal digital correspond to one byte. However, in some applications, it is easier to use octal with some instructions. Octal has the advantage over hex in that it uses only digits as opposed to hex that uses 16 characters that include digits and letters.