Editing Serial port (section)

===Data bits===
The number of data bits in each character can be 5 (for [[Baudot code]]), 6 (rarely used), 7 (for true [[ASCII]]), 8 (for most kinds of data, as this size matches the size of a [[byte]]), or 9 (rarely used). 8 data bits are almost universally used in newer applications. 5 or 7 bits generally only make sense with older equipment such as teleprinters.

Most serial communications designs send the data bits within each byte [[least significant bit]] first. Also possible, but rarely used, is [[most significant bit]] first; this was used, for example, by the [[IBM 2741]] printing terminal. The order of bits is not usually configurable within the serial port interface but is defined by the host system. To communicate with systems that require a different bit ordering than the local default, local software can re-order the bits within each byte just before sending and just after receiving.