How many information bits are included in the Baudot code?

The Baudot code, historically used for radioteletype (RTTY) communications, is a 5-bit character set. Because 5 bits only yield 32 possible combinations (2^5), it relies on special 'shift' characters—namely LETS (letters) and FIGS (figures)—to switch back and forth between two different character sets, allowing it to represent the full alphabet, numbers, and basic punctuation. Other digital codes use more bits to avoid the need for shift characters. For example, standard ASCII uses 7 bits, and extended ASCII uses 8 bits. However, the original standard for teleprinters operates efficiently on just 5 bits of information.