Why do we use caret (^) as the symbol for ctrl/control?What's the difference between “opcode” and “instruction” in this Zilog ad?Why does Oracle use MINUS instead of EXCEPT?What does the “x” in “x86” represent?
Sub query result is 0
A non-technological, repeating, phenomenon in the sky, holding its position in the sky for hours
What happens if I start too many background jobs?
What is the most remote airport from the center of the city it supposedly serves?
How can I close a gap between my fence and my neighbor's that's on his side of the property line?
Airbnb - host wants to reduce rooms, can we get refund?
Missed the connecting flight, separate tickets on same airline - who is responsible?
Theorem won't go to multiple lines and is causing text to run off the page
What happens to matryoshka Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansions?
Do I really need diodes to receive MIDI?
Besides the up and down quark, what other quarks are present in daily matter around us?
Is there a legal ground for stripping the UK of its UN Veto if Scotland and/or N.Ireland split from the UK?
Selecting a secure PIN for building access
When and why did journal article titles become descriptive, rather than creatively allusive?
Why do we use caret (^) as the symbol for ctrl/control?
What word means "to make something obsolete"?
Alias to source .bashrc after it's been edited?
Pressure inside an infinite ocean?
Answer "Justification for travel support" in conference registration form
For a benzene shown in a skeletal structure, what does a substituent to the center of the ring mean?
Why is C# in the D Major Scale?
Accidentally deleted the "/usr/share" folder
How do I tell my manager that his code review comment is wrong?
Is Cola "probably the best-known" Latin word in the world? If not, which might it be?
Why do we use caret (^) as the symbol for ctrl/control?
What's the difference between “opcode” and “instruction” in this Zilog ad?Why does Oracle use MINUS instead of EXCEPT?What does the “x” in “x86” represent?
From my understanding, the caret character (^) has been used to indicate Ctrl-key combinations since the early UNIX days, if not earlier. Why was this character used to indicate this? Was it simply that the symbol wasn't being used for anything else at the time, or is there an etymological history where that makes sense?
Some things have used alternate notation; for example, Emacs stands out for using C- instead, and many user manuals simply write control- or ctrl-, much as how alt- is still commonplace (a notable exception being Apple's modern use of ⌥ for Alt, and similarly ⌘ for Meta, which of course used to be represented with the Apple logo instead).
The dictionary definition of caret doesn't make any nod to this usage, and instead only offers:
a wedge-shaped mark made on written or printed matter to indicate the place where something is to be inserted
and while Wikipedia describes the usage as a control character it states nothing about the history of this usage so far as I can find.
terminology
asked 3 hours ago
fluffyfluffy
1363
New contributor
fluffy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
From my understanding, the caret character (^) has been used to indicate Ctrl-key combinations since the early UNIX days, if not earlier. Why was this character used to indicate this? Was it simply that the symbol wasn't being used for anything else at the time, or is there an etymological history where that makes sense?
Some things have used alternate notation; for example, Emacs stands out for using C- instead, and many user manuals simply write control- or ctrl-, much as how alt- is still commonplace (a notable exception being Apple's modern use of ⌥ for Alt, and similarly ⌘ for Meta, which of course used to be represented with the Apple logo instead).
The dictionary definition of caret doesn't make any nod to this usage, and instead only offers:
a wedge-shaped mark made on written or printed matter to indicate the place where something is to be inserted
and while Wikipedia describes the usage as a control character it states nothing about the history of this usage so far as I can find.
terminology
asked 3 hours ago
fluffyfluffy
1363
New contributor
fluffy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
2
⌥doesn't meanalt, it meansoption. Similarly,⌘/meanscommand.
– Mark
1 hour ago
add a comment |
From my understanding, the caret character (^) has been used to indicate Ctrl-key combinations since the early UNIX days, if not earlier. Why was this character used to indicate this? Was it simply that the symbol wasn't being used for anything else at the time, or is there an etymological history where that makes sense?
Some things have used alternate notation; for example, Emacs stands out for using C- instead, and many user manuals simply write control- or ctrl-, much as how alt- is still commonplace (a notable exception being Apple's modern use of ⌥ for Alt, and similarly ⌘ for Meta, which of course used to be represented with the Apple logo instead).
The dictionary definition of caret doesn't make any nod to this usage, and instead only offers:
a wedge-shaped mark made on written or printed matter to indicate the place where something is to be inserted
and while Wikipedia describes the usage as a control character it states nothing about the history of this usage so far as I can find.
terminology
asked 3 hours ago
fluffyfluffy
1363
New contributor
fluffy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
From my understanding, the caret character (^) has been used to indicate Ctrl-key combinations since the early UNIX days, if not earlier. Why was this character used to indicate this? Was it simply that the symbol wasn't being used for anything else at the time, or is there an etymological history where that makes sense?
Some things have used alternate notation; for example, Emacs stands out for using C- instead, and many user manuals simply write control- or ctrl-, much as how alt- is still commonplace (a notable exception being Apple's modern use of ⌥ for Alt, and similarly ⌘ for Meta, which of course used to be represented with the Apple logo instead).
The dictionary definition of caret doesn't make any nod to this usage, and instead only offers:
a wedge-shaped mark made on written or printed matter to indicate the place where something is to be inserted
and while Wikipedia describes the usage as a control character it states nothing about the history of this usage so far as I can find.
terminology
terminology
asked 3 hours ago
fluffyfluffy
1363
New contributor
fluffy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 3 hours ago
fluffyfluffy
1363
New contributor
fluffy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 3 hours ago
fluffyfluffy
1363
New contributor
fluffy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 3 hours ago
fluffyfluffy
1363
asked 3 hours ago
fluffyfluffy
1363
1363
New contributor
fluffy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
fluffy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
fluffy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
2
⌥doesn't meanalt, it meansoption. Similarly,⌘/meanscommand.
– Mark
1 hour ago
add a comment |
2
⌥doesn't meanalt, it meansoption. Similarly,⌘/meanscommand.
– Mark
1 hour ago
2
2
⌥ doesn't mean alt, it means option. Similarly, ⌘/ means command.– Mark
1 hour ago
⌥ doesn't mean alt, it means option. Similarly, ⌘/ means command.– Mark
1 hour ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
We use caret because the 1968 version of ASCII replaced the perfectly fine up-arrow (previously used for indicating control characters) with a lousy caret, at the same code value.
I think the up-arrow, letter convention originated with DEC operating systems. The primary need was not documentation, but for echoing something printable (and preferably easily recognizable) when a control character is typed on the keyboard. Bear in mind that the I/O device at this time was something like a teletype.
But I don't think there's anything special about the choice; as far as I known it was a semi-arbitrary decision that stuck.
This 1965 brochure for the PDP-6 Monitor shows the uparrow, C convention for control-C, on page 4.
answered 2 hours ago
another-daveanother-dave
1,441316
1
Also, Caret notation indicates that the use of^was not universal, at least the Acorn used a different notation.
– Greg Hewgill
2 hours ago
Also, as far as I can tell from looking around, "control-letter" characters pretty much imply ASCII, at least before PC-style keyboards. Other codes, say Baudot, had what in modern write-ups get called "control characters", but I don't think they were at the time. (Note to young people: the world was not originally ASCII, there were many character codes, sometimes even varying between devices on the same system).
– another-dave
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "648"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);
else
createEditor();
);
function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);
);
fluffy is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fretrocomputing.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f10925%2fwhy-do-we-use-caret-as-the-symbol-for-ctrl-control%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
We use caret because the 1968 version of ASCII replaced the perfectly fine up-arrow (previously used for indicating control characters) with a lousy caret, at the same code value.
I think the up-arrow, letter convention originated with DEC operating systems. The primary need was not documentation, but for echoing something printable (and preferably easily recognizable) when a control character is typed on the keyboard. Bear in mind that the I/O device at this time was something like a teletype.
But I don't think there's anything special about the choice; as far as I known it was a semi-arbitrary decision that stuck.
This 1965 brochure for the PDP-6 Monitor shows the uparrow, C convention for control-C, on page 4.
answered 2 hours ago
another-daveanother-dave
1,441316
1
Also, Caret notation indicates that the use of^was not universal, at least the Acorn used a different notation.
– Greg Hewgill
2 hours ago
Also, as far as I can tell from looking around, "control-letter" characters pretty much imply ASCII, at least before PC-style keyboards. Other codes, say Baudot, had what in modern write-ups get called "control characters", but I don't think they were at the time. (Note to young people: the world was not originally ASCII, there were many character codes, sometimes even varying between devices on the same system).
– another-dave
1 hour ago
add a comment |
We use caret because the 1968 version of ASCII replaced the perfectly fine up-arrow (previously used for indicating control characters) with a lousy caret, at the same code value.
I think the up-arrow, letter convention originated with DEC operating systems. The primary need was not documentation, but for echoing something printable (and preferably easily recognizable) when a control character is typed on the keyboard. Bear in mind that the I/O device at this time was something like a teletype.
But I don't think there's anything special about the choice; as far as I known it was a semi-arbitrary decision that stuck.
This 1965 brochure for the PDP-6 Monitor shows the uparrow, C convention for control-C, on page 4.
answered 2 hours ago
another-daveanother-dave
1,441316
1
Also, Caret notation indicates that the use of^was not universal, at least the Acorn used a different notation.
– Greg Hewgill
2 hours ago
Also, as far as I can tell from looking around, "control-letter" characters pretty much imply ASCII, at least before PC-style keyboards. Other codes, say Baudot, had what in modern write-ups get called "control characters", but I don't think they were at the time. (Note to young people: the world was not originally ASCII, there were many character codes, sometimes even varying between devices on the same system).
– another-dave
1 hour ago
add a comment |
We use caret because the 1968 version of ASCII replaced the perfectly fine up-arrow (previously used for indicating control characters) with a lousy caret, at the same code value.
I think the up-arrow, letter convention originated with DEC operating systems. The primary need was not documentation, but for echoing something printable (and preferably easily recognizable) when a control character is typed on the keyboard. Bear in mind that the I/O device at this time was something like a teletype.
But I don't think there's anything special about the choice; as far as I known it was a semi-arbitrary decision that stuck.
This 1965 brochure for the PDP-6 Monitor shows the uparrow, C convention for control-C, on page 4.
answered 2 hours ago
another-daveanother-dave
1,441316
We use caret because the 1968 version of ASCII replaced the perfectly fine up-arrow (previously used for indicating control characters) with a lousy caret, at the same code value.
I think the up-arrow, letter convention originated with DEC operating systems. The primary need was not documentation, but for echoing something printable (and preferably easily recognizable) when a control character is typed on the keyboard. Bear in mind that the I/O device at this time was something like a teletype.
But I don't think there's anything special about the choice; as far as I known it was a semi-arbitrary decision that stuck.
This 1965 brochure for the PDP-6 Monitor shows the uparrow, C convention for control-C, on page 4.
answered 2 hours ago
another-daveanother-dave
1,441316
edited 2 hours ago
answered 2 hours ago
another-daveanother-dave
1,441316
answered 2 hours ago
another-daveanother-dave
1,441316
answered 2 hours ago
another-daveanother-dave
1,441316
1,441316
1
Also, Caret notation indicates that the use of^was not universal, at least the Acorn used a different notation.
– Greg Hewgill
2 hours ago
Also, as far as I can tell from looking around, "control-letter" characters pretty much imply ASCII, at least before PC-style keyboards. Other codes, say Baudot, had what in modern write-ups get called "control characters", but I don't think they were at the time. (Note to young people: the world was not originally ASCII, there were many character codes, sometimes even varying between devices on the same system).
– another-dave
1 hour ago
add a comment |
1
Also, Caret notation indicates that the use of^was not universal, at least the Acorn used a different notation.
– Greg Hewgill
2 hours ago
Also, as far as I can tell from looking around, "control-letter" characters pretty much imply ASCII, at least before PC-style keyboards. Other codes, say Baudot, had what in modern write-ups get called "control characters", but I don't think they were at the time. (Note to young people: the world was not originally ASCII, there were many character codes, sometimes even varying between devices on the same system).
– another-dave
1 hour ago
1
1
Also, Caret notation indicates that the use of
^ was not universal, at least the Acorn used a different notation.– Greg Hewgill
2 hours ago
Also, Caret notation indicates that the use of
^ was not universal, at least the Acorn used a different notation.– Greg Hewgill
2 hours ago
Also, as far as I can tell from looking around, "control-letter" characters pretty much imply ASCII, at least before PC-style keyboards. Other codes, say Baudot, had what in modern write-ups get called "control characters", but I don't think they were at the time. (Note to young people: the world was not originally ASCII, there were many character codes, sometimes even varying between devices on the same system).
– another-dave
1 hour ago
Also, as far as I can tell from looking around, "control-letter" characters pretty much imply ASCII, at least before PC-style keyboards. Other codes, say Baudot, had what in modern write-ups get called "control characters", but I don't think they were at the time. (Note to young people: the world was not originally ASCII, there were many character codes, sometimes even varying between devices on the same system).
– another-dave
1 hour ago
add a comment |
fluffy is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
fluffy is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
fluffy is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
fluffy is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to Retrocomputing Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fretrocomputing.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f10925%2fwhy-do-we-use-caret-as-the-symbol-for-ctrl-control%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
2
⌥doesn't meanalt, it meansoption. Similarly,⌘/meanscommand.– Mark
1 hour ago