Alpha characters are letters of the alphabet, specifically the 26 letters from A to Z in both upper and lower case (A-Z, a-z). The term "alpha" in this context refers to alphabetic characters, distinguishing them from numeric characters which are digits from 0 to 9. When combined, letters (alpha characters) and numbers (numeric characters) form alphanumeric characters, which are used widely in computer programming, passwords, data entry, and other digital applications. Alpha characters alone refer strictly to letters without numbers or special symbols. In summary, alpha characters are simply alphabetic letters, the basic building blocks of written language in alphabets such as English.