Nonhexadecimal

Nonhexadecimal refers to numeral representations, data, or notation that do not use the hexadecimal base (base-16). Hexadecimal is widely used in computing because it provides a compact representation of binary data, using digits 0–9 and letters A–F. Nonhexadecimal systems rely on other bases, most commonly decimal (base-10), binary (base-2), and octal (base-8).

Numeral bases and examples

In decimal, numbers are written with digits 0–9. In binary, values are expressed with 0 and 1. In octal, digits range from 0 to 7. For a given quantity, its representation differs by base: decimal 255 is 255, binary 11111111, octal 377, and hex FF. The choice of base is often guided by readability, hardware interfaces, or established standards.

Literals and parsing

In programming languages, numbers are usually written in decimal by default, with prefixes or suffixes signaling other bases. For example, 0xFF often denotes hexadecimal, while 0b101010 denotes binary and 0377 might denote octal in some languages. Nonhexadecimal values, therefore, may be decimal or another base depending on context and tooling. Input validation and parsing frequently rely on prefixes, allowed character sets, or document-defined formats to distinguish hex from other bases. Strings containing A–F are typically interpreted as hexadecimal in many contexts, whereas strings with only digits 0–9 may represent decimal or another non-hex format as prescribed by the specification.

Applications and variants

Nonhexadecimal representations appear in various domains, including human-readable interfaces, data interchange formats that favor decimal components, and legacy systems. In color specification, for instance, decimal rgb values can be used alongside hexadecimal color codes. Understanding nonhexadecimal formats is important for interoperability and correct data interpretation.