7 in Morse code

The ten digits are all five elements long. From 6 to 9 the dashes lead, one more for each step, so 7 opens with two. It sits between 6 and 8, which are -.... and ---.. on either side of it.

• The letter Z:

  --.. is 7 without its last dot.

• The digit 3:

  ...-- is 7 in reverse.

• The digit 2:

  ..--- is 7 with every dot and dash swapped.

73 comes from the 92 Code, a list of numbered stock messages that Western Union adopted in 1859. Operators still use it to close a contact, as the bare number. Sent in full it is --... ...--: dashes on the outside, dots in the middle, the same from either end.

If what you copied does not mirror, one of the two digits is wrong. The 73 page covers where it goes in a closing and why it is never written 73s.

Cut numbers keep a digit's dots and trim its dashes to one, for exchanges where both sides expect figures. 7 becomes -..., the letter B, and saves 4 of its 13 units. B looks like 6 missing a dot, so the cut only works when the receiver knows a number is coming.

The cut forms of all ten digits are on the numbers page.

American (Railroad) Morse, the code of US landline telegraphs, sent 7 as --.., two dashes and two dots. International Morse reads that same pattern as the letter Z. A 7 copied from an old Railroad Morse record turns into a Z when you decode it with today's table.

• Tap it:

  two long presses and three quick taps. At 18 words per minute the whole 7 lasts 13 units, about 867 ms.

• Flash it:

  as light it takes longer, because this site flashes light at 7 words per minute at most, so 7 takes about 2.2 seconds.

• Write it:

  two hyphens and three periods, no spaces inside. July 4 in the US short form 7/4 is --... -..-. ....-, with the slash as its own character.

For longer text, the translator converts every character at once.