在电脑和电信领域中，字符（Character）是一个信息单位。对使用字母系统或音节文本等自然语言，它大约对应为一个音位、类音位的单位或符号。简单来讲就是一个汉字、日文本、韩文本……，或是一个英文、其他西方语言的字母。

字符的例子有：字母、数字系统或标点符号。另外有所谓控制字符的概念，它是指：并不对应到自然语言中的某个特定符号，而是对应到语言中一些用来处理文句的概念（类似排版）。例子为打印机或其它显示设备的命令，如Enter或Tab。

In computer and machine-based telecommunications terminology, a character is a unit of information that roughly corresponds to a grapheme, grapheme-like unit, or symbol, such as in an alphabet or syllabary in the written form of a natural language.

Examples of characters include letters, numerical digits, common punctuation marks (such as "." or "-"), and whitespace. The concept also includes control characters, which do not correspond to symbols in a particular natural language, but rather to other bits of information used to process text in one or more languages. Examples of control characters include carriage return or tab, as well as instructions to printers or other devices that display or otherwise process text.