What are Special Characters?
Special characters are symbols that are not found on a standard keyboard and are used to represent various types of information in different contexts. They include mathematical and technical notations, punctuation, currency, emoji, and other symbols for special purposes. Some common special characters are infinity symbol (∞), not equal symbol (≠), square root symbol (√), currency symbols ($, €, ¥, £), emoji (😂, ❤️, 🌈, 🚀), technical symbols (∆, 〈, 〉, ⊥), and punctuation marks (¿, ¡, †, ‡). They can be entered using keyboard shortcuts, character maps, or special character input tools in software programs.
Special Characters Chart
Special Characters List
| Special Character | Special Character Name |
|---|---|
| ~ | Tilde |
| ` | Grave accent |
| ! | Exclamation |
| @ | Ampersat, at sign |
| # | Hash , number sign,Octothorpe |
| $ | Dollar sign |
| % | Percentage sign |
| * | Asterisk |
| ^ | Circumflex, caret |
| & | Ampersand |
| ( | Open parenthesis |
| ) | Close parenthesis |
| _ | Underscore |
| - | Hyphen, dash, minus |
| + | Plus sign |
| = | Equal to sign |
| { | Open brace |
| } | Close brace |
| [ | Open bracket |
| ] | Close bracket |
| | | Vertical bar, Pipe |
| \ | Back slash |
| : | Colon |
| ; | Semicolon |
| " | Double quotation mark |
| ' | Single quotation mark, apostrophee |
| , | Comma |
| . | Full stop |
| / | Forward lash |
| < | Open angle bracket, less than |
| > | Close angle bracket, greater than |
| ? | Question mark |
Definition of Special Characters
☛ ~ Tilde
The tilde (~) is a special character that can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. In general, it is used as a symbol for "not" or "negation." In some programming languages, it can also be used to represent bitwise negation. In some operating systems, it is used to represent the home directory of the current user. In text messaging and instant messaging, it is often used to indicate sarcasm or irony.
☛ ` Grave accent
The grave accent (`) is a special character that can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. In most programming languages, it is used to indicate a “backtick string” or a template literal. These are used to create strings with special characters and expressions. In some keyboard layouts, it is also used as a diacritical mark, such as in Pinyin, the official romanization system for Standard Chinese.
It could also be used in some instances as an accent mark in foreign words.
☛ ! Exclamation
The exclamation mark (!) is a punctuation mark that is often used to indicate strong feelings or emphasis. It is commonly used to indicate surprise, disbelief, or strong emotion. In the written form, it is often used to express a command or to indicate a strong warning or caution. In programming, it is used in logical and mathematical operations to indicate negation or logical NOT. It is also used in some computer command lines and scripts to indicate that a command is executed with admin/superuser privileges.
☛ @ Ampersat or at sign
The ampersat or at sign (@) is a special character that has several uses in modern technology. One of the most common uses of the @ symbol is in email addresses, where it separates the user name from the domain name. In social media, it is used to mention or tag other users in posts or comments. In programming, it is often used in variable and function names, as well as in programming languages such as C# and Java to indicate annotations. It is also used in some command line interfaces and scripts to specify a user, host or network address.
☛ # Hash ,number sign or octothorpe
The hash, number sign or octothorpe (#) is a special character that is widely used in various contexts. One of the most common uses of # the symbol is in social media, where it is used to create a hashtag, which allows users to tag their posts with keywords and join a conversation on a specific topic. In programming, it is often used as a symbol for comments, which are ignored by the compiler or interpreter. It is also commonly used in telephone keypads, where it is the symbol for the number sign (e.g. "#1" to mean "one").
☛ $ Dollar sign
The dollar sign ($) is a special character that is primarily used to represent currency. It is used as the symbol for the US dollar, as well as many other currencies such as the Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, and Hong Kong dollar.
In programming, the dollar sign is often used as a marker for variables in some programming languages such as PHP, JavaScript, or Perl. It could also be used as a marker for the end of a string in some regular expressions.
It is also used in some command lines or scripts to indicate a variable or a placeholder for some value.
☛ % Percentage sign
The percentage sign (%) is a special character that is most commonly used to indicate a percentage or a ratio. It is used to express a number as a fraction of 100, for example 50% would mean 50 out of 100 or 0.50. It is used across various fields such as mathematics, finance, statistics and data analysis, accounting, and many other fields. In programming, the percentage sign is used to format strings, for example to add a percentage sign to a number and also in some programming languages, it is used in mathematical operations such as modulus operation which returns the remainder when one number is divided by another.
☛ * Asterisk
The asterisk (*) is a special character that has several uses depending on the context. It is commonly used as a symbol for multiplication in mathematics, and in some programming languages, the asterisk is used for the same purpose. In command-line interfaces and scripts, the asterisk is used as a wildcard character, which can match any character or sequence of characters. It can also be used to indicate a bullet in a list, or to indicate that an item is important or required in forms or instructions. In regular expressions, it is used to match any sequence of characters and in some programming languages, it is used to declare pointers.
☛ ^ Circumflex or caret
The circumflex or caret (^) is a special character that has several uses depending on the context. In mathematics, it is used as an exponentiation operator to indicate that a number is raised to a power. In some programming languages, it is used to perform bitwise exclusive or (XOR) operation on binary numbers. In regular expressions, it is used to match the starting position within the searched text. In command-line interfaces, it is used to indicate control characters, such as the caret notation in the C programming language. In some text editors, it is used as a shortcut key to navigate to the first non-whitespace character on a line. In some programming languages and systems, it is used to indicate the start of a line.
☛ & Ampersand
The ampersand (&) is a special character that has several uses depending on the context. In programming, it is used as the address-of operator and also as the bitwise and operator. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to execute a command in the background or to combine commands together by running them simultaneously. In text, it is often used to indicate that two or more items are related or connected. It is also used in some programming languages like C, C++, and C# to create a reference to a memory location. In HTML and XML, it is used to encode the "&" symbol, so that it is not interpreted as the beginning of an entity reference.
☛ ( Open parenthesis
The open parenthesis ( ( ) is a special character that is used in many contexts. One of the most common uses is in mathematics, where it is used to indicate the start of a mathematical expression or a group of operations that need to be performed in a specific order, such as in (3+4) * 2. In programming, it is used to indicate the start of a function call or a block of code, such as in a for loop or an if statement. It is also used in some command-line interfaces and scripts to indicate a command or a set of commands that need to be executed together. In regular expressions, it is used to group a series of characters together, so that a specific set of operations can be applied to them.
☛ ) Close parenthesis
The close parenthesis ( ) ) is a special character that is often used in conjunction with the open parenthesis ( ( ). It is used to indicate the end of a mathematical expression or a group of operations, such as in (3+4) * 2. In programming, it is used to indicate the end of a function call, block of code, or a group of statements. It is also used in some command-line interfaces and scripts to indicate the end of a command or a set of commands that need to be executed together. It is also used in some mathematical notation to indicate the end of a set, for example, (1,2,3) represents a set containing the elements 1,2 and 3.
☛ _ Underscore
The underscore (_) is a special character that is often used to separate words in variable names or file names. In many programming languages, variable names with multiple words separated by an underscore is a common naming convention, such as in variable_name. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to indicate an argument that is not specified and should be filled in by the user. In some text editors, it is used as a shortcut key to navigate to the end of the current line. In regular expressions, it is used to match any single character.
It is also used in some naming conventions for fields or attributes in databases or for indicating a placeholder for a value or variable.
☛ - Hyphen, dash, minus
The hyphen, dash, or minus (-) is a special character that is often used to indicate a range of values or a subtraction operation in mathematics. In programming, it is often used in variable and function names, as well as in mathematical operations such as subtraction, negation, and subtraction assignments. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to specify options and arguments, and to separate values in a list or range. It is also used in some text formatting like in bullet points and to separate items in a list.
☛ +Plus sign
The plus sign (+) is a special character that has several uses depending on the context. In mathematics, it is used as an addition operator, indicating that two or more numbers should be added together, such as in 2+3 = 5. In programming, it is used in some languages to indicate concatenation, such as joining two strings together, as well as in some mathematical operations. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to indicate options or command arguments. In regular expressions, it is used to match one or more of the preceding character or group of characters. In text editors, it is used as a shortcut key to select one or more lines of text. In some languages it is also used to indicate a positive number, such as +5.
☛ = Equal to sign
The equal sign (=) is a special character that is used to indicate equality or assignment. In mathematics, it is used to indicate that two expressions are equal to each other, such as in 2 + 2 = 4. In programming, it is used to assign a value to a variable, such as variable = 2. It is also used in conditional statements to test for equality, such as in "if variable = 2" which checks if the value of the variable is equal to 2. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to assign a value to a variable or a parameter. In regular expressions, it is used to indicate that the preceding expression should match exactly. In some programming languages, it could be used for comparison too.
☛ { Open brace
The open brace ({) is a special character that is used to indicate the start of a block of code or a group of statements in many programming languages. It is often used in conjunction with the close brace (}) to delimit a block of code, such as in a function, a loop, or a conditional statement. In some programming languages, it also has other uses such as in C-like languages it is used for defining a scope of a variable, such as local scope. In JSON and other similar data formats, it is used to indicate the start of an object. In regular expressions, it is used to define a set of characters to match. It is also used in some command-line interfaces and scripts to indicate the start of a command or a set of commands that need to be executed together.
It could also be used in some mathematical notation to indicate the end of a set, for example, {1,2,3} represents a set containing the elements 1,2 and 3.
☛ { Close brace
The close brace (}) is a special character that is often used in conjunction with the open brace ({). It is used to indicate the end of a block of code, a group of statements, or a scope in many programming languages. It is used to define the end of an object, an array, or a list in some languages. In regular expressions, it is used to group a set of characters together to match a specific pattern. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to indicate the end of a script or a command that needs to be executed. It is also used in some text editors to indicate the end of a selected block of text.
It could also be used in some mathematical notation to indicate the end of a set, for example, {1,2,3} represents a set containing the elements 1,2 and 3.
☛ [ Open bracket
The open bracket ([) is a special character that is used in many contexts. One of the most common uses is in mathematics, where it is used to indicate the start of a set or a group of elements, such as in the set of all integers [...5,4,3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,4,5...] . In programming, it is used to indicate the start of an array, a list, or a sequence of elements. It is also used in some command-line interfaces and scripts to indicate the start of an option or a parameter. In regular expressions, it is used to match any one of the characters within the brackets. In text editors, it is used as a shortcut key to select text one line at a time.
In some programming languages, it is also used to indicate the start of a subscript when accessing elements in an array or a list.
It could also be used in some mathematical notation to indicate the end of a set, for example, [1,2,3] represents a set containing the elements 1,2 and 3.
☛ ] Close bracket
The close bracket (]) is a special character that is often used in conjunction with the open bracket ([). It is used to indicate the end of a vector, a matrix, an array, a list, or a collection of values in mathematics and programming. It is also used to define the end of a group of characters in regular expressions, to match a specific pattern. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to indicate the end of a command or a set of commands that need to be executed together. In some text editors, it is used as a shortcut key to navigate to the end of the current line.
In some programming languages, it could also be used to indicate the end of a list or an indexable collection.
It could also be used in some mathematical notation to indicate the end of a set, for example, [1,2,3] represents a set containing the elements 1,2 and 3.
☛ | Vertical bar or Pipe
The vertical bar or pipe (|) is a special character that has several uses depending on the context. In mathematics, it is used to indicate the absolute value of a number, such as |-5| = 5. In programming, it is used to indicate a logical OR operation, where the result is true if at least one of the operands is true. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to redirect input or output from one command to another, known as pipe operator. In regular expressions, it is used to match multiple alternatives, for example a|b will match either a or b.
☛ \ Back slash
The backslash () is a special character that has several uses depending on the context. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to escape special characters, such as spaces and new lines, so that they are treated as literal characters. In regular expressions, it is used to escape special characters so that they are treated as literal characters rather than special characters. In programming, it is used to indicate a line continuation, allowing a single line of code to be split over multiple lines.
In some operating systems, it is used as a path separator in file paths, such as in C:\Windows\System32. In some programming languages, it is used to indicate a special character, such as a new line or a tab.
It could also be used in some text editors to indicate a special character or in some programming languages to indicate a special character in string literals.
☛ : Colon
The colon (:) is a special character that has several uses depending on the context. In programming, it is used to separate the key and value in key-value pairs, such as in an object or a dictionary. It is also used to indicate the end of a label in some programming languages, such as in Goto statements. In command-line interfaces, it is used to separate the command and options or arguments. In text editors, it is used as a shortcut key to navigate to the first non-whitespace character on a line.
It is also used in some writing and typesetting to separate hours and minutes in time notation, for example 11:00 PM.In some programming languages it is used to indicate a default case in a switch statement. It is also used in some formatting conventions to separate the title and subtitle of a book or article.
☛ ; Semicolon
The semicolon (;) is a special character that is used to separate statements or commands in many programming languages. It is used to indicate the end of a statement, similar to the way a period indicates the end of a sentence in written language. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to separate multiple commands on the same line. In text editors, it is used as a shortcut key to navigate to the end of the current line.
It is also used in some formatting conventions such as CSV (Comma Separated Values) to separate fields in a record. In some programming languages it is used to chain multiple statements together in a single line.
☛ “ Double quotation mark
The double quotation mark (“ ) is a special character that is used to indicate the start and end of a string of characters in many programming languages. In written language, it is used to indicate a direct quote from a speech or a text. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to enclose a string of characters that may contain spaces or other special characters. In some text editors, it is used as a shortcut key to navigate to the start or end of a line or block of text.
It is also used in some formatting conventions such as CSV (Comma Separated Values) to enclose fields which contain a comma or a newline.
It is also used in some languages to indicate titles of books, articles or songs, and to indicate a phrase or a word that is being emphasized.
☛ ' Single quotation mark, apostrophe
The single quotation mark or apostrophe ( ‘ ) is a special character that is similar to the double quotation mark ( “ ) in its use. It is used to indicate the start and end of a string of characters in many programming languages, and also used to enclose a string of characters that may contain spaces or other special characters in command-line interfaces and scripts. In written language, it is used to indicate possession or a contraction, such as in "John's car" or "didn't". In some text editors, it is used as a shortcut key to navigate to the start or end of a line or block of text.
It is also used in some formatting conventions such as CSV (Comma Separated Values) to enclose fields which contain a comma or a newline.
It is also used in some languages to indicate titles of books, articles or songs, and to indicate a phrase or a word that is being emphasized.
☛ , Comma
The comma (,) is a special character that is used to separate items in a list or a sequence. In mathematics and programming, it is used to separate elements in an array, a tuple, or a list. In written language, it is used to separate items in a list or a sequence of words, such as in "apples, oranges, and bananas". In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to separate options or arguments. In text editors, it is used as a shortcut key to navigate to the start or end of a line or block of text.
It is also used in some formatting conventions such as CSV (Comma Separated Values) to separate fields in a record.
In some programming languages it is used to chain multiple statements together in a single line. It is also used in some languages to separate decimal fraction from an integer, for example, 3,14.
☛ . Full stop
The full stop or period (.) is a special character that has several uses depending on the context. In written language, it is used to indicate the end of a sentence. In programming, it is used as a decimal point, to separate the integer and fractional parts of a number, such as 3.14. It is also used to indicate the end of a file name, such as in "file.txt". In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to separate command options or arguments. In regular expressions, it is used to match any single character. In some programming languages, it is also used as an operator to access properties or methods of an object, for example, object.property or object.method().
It is also used in some formatting conventions such as CSV (Comma Separated Values) to separate fields in a record and in some languages to indicate the end of a file name or to separate domain name from the top level domain name.
☛ / Forward lash
The forward slash (/) is a special character that has several uses depending on the context. In mathematics, it is used as a division operator, indicating that one number should be divided by another, such as in 10 / 2 = 5. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used as a directory separator in file paths, such as /folder/file.txt. In regular expressions, it is used as an escape character, indicating that the character following the forward slash should be treated as a literal character and not a special character.
In some programming languages it is used as an operator for division and also to create regular expressions.
It is also used in some formatting conventions such as URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) to separate different parts of a web address, for example, https://www.padhegaindiaonline.com
☛ < Open angle bracket or less than
he open angle bracket or less-than sign (<) is a special character that has several uses depending on the context. In mathematics, it is used as a comparison operator, indicating that one number is less than another, such as in ( 5 < 10 ). In programming, it is used to compare values and in conditional statements, such as in "if x < y". In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to redirect input from a file, for example command < input.txt. In regular expressions, it is used to match any character that comes before the following character in the ASCII table.
In HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and XML (Extensible Markup Language) it is used to mark the start of an opening tag. It is also used in some programming languages to indicate a type parameter in a generic type or function.
☛ > Close angle bracket, greater than
The close angle bracket, or greater than sign (>) is a special character that has several uses depending on the context. In mathematics, it is used as a greater than operator, indicating that one number is greater than the other, such as in 5 > 3. In programming, it is used in comparison operators for conditional statements, such as if x > y in some languages. In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is used to redirect output, such as command > output.txt. In regular expressions, it is used to match characters that are greater than a specific character in the ASCII or Unicode table.
In some markup languages such as XML and HTML, it is used to indicate the end of a tag or element.
It is also used in some formatting conventions such as inequalities in mathematical notation.
☛ ? Question mark
The question mark (?) is a special character that has several uses depending on the context. In written language, it is used to indicate a question, such as "What is your name?"
In programming, it is used as a ternary operator, which is a shorthand way of writing an if-else statement. Such as x>y? x:y, this means if x is greater than y return x else y.
It is also used in regular expressions as a special character to match any single character.
In command-line interfaces and scripts, it is often used to indicate that a command or argument is optional.
In some text editors, it is used as a shortcut key to perform a search for a specific string of characters.
It is also used in URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) to separate the path of a web page from the query string.