Number sign 59006 225614279 2008-07-14T15:47:06Z Oli Filth 547762 Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/71.201.201.78|71.201.201.78]] ([[User talk:71.201.201.78|talk]]) to last version by 202.72.216.138 {{Punctuation marks|#}} '''Number sign''' is a name for the symbol '''#'''; it is the preferred [[Unicode]] name for the [[code point]] associated with that [[glyph]]. The symbol is similar to the musical symbol called [[Sharp (music)|sharp]] '''♯'''. Several other names for this symbol are used in the [[United States]] and [[Canada]]. In most other English-speaking countries, it is called a '''hash'''. The number sign’s Unicode code point is U+0023, and its [[ASCII]] value is 0x23 ([[hexadecimal]]). In many parts of the world, including [[Europe]], [[Canada]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], and [[Russia]], “number sign” is the name of the “número” sign '''[[Numero sign|№]]''' (Unicode code point U+2116), which is often written simply as '''No.''' In those countries, the '''#''' sign is not used to indicate a number. ==Naming conventions in North America== In some regions of the United States and Canada, the symbol is traditionally called the '''pound sign''', but in others, the '''number sign'''. This derives from a series of abbreviations for '''[[Pound (mass)|pound]]''', which is a unit of [[weight]]. At first "lb." was used; however, printers later designed a font containing a special symbol of an "lb" with a line through the ascenders so that the lowercase letter "l" would not be mistaken for the number "1". Unicode character U+2114 ({{unicode|℔}}) is called the "LB Bar Symbol", and it is a cursive development of this symbol. Ultimately, there was the reduction to a combination of two horizontal strokes (cf. skewed "=") and two forward-slash-like strokes (cf. "//"). Thus, it is misleading to name the symbol "fence" or "square" or representation of the sign with vertical, rather than slanted, strokes. Its traditional commercial use in the U.S. was such that when it followed a number, it was to be read as "pounds", as in 5# of sugar, and when it preceded a number, it was to be read as 'number', as in #2 pencil. Thus the same character in a printer's type case had two uses. ==Other names in English== It has many other names (and uses) in [[English language|English]]. (Those in '''bold''' are listed as alternative names in the Unicode documentation.) *comment sign **from its use in many [[shell script]]s and some [[programming language]]s like [[Perl]] to introduce [[comment (computer programming)|comment]]s *'''crosshatch''' **resemblance *fence, gate, grid, gridlet **resemblance *'''hash''' / hash mark / hash sign **Hash is most common name for the mark used in the English-speaking world outside North America.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} **In Ireland, the UK, Australia, India and New Zealand, "hash key" refers to the # button on [[touch-tone]] telephones; "Please press the hash key." **The symbol is often used as medical shorthand for 'fracture' <ref>[http://www.mrs.fhs.usyd.edu.au/Pco/AbridgedTerms.htm#Symbols "University of Sydney School of Medical Radiation Technology: Abriged Terms"]</ref><ref>[http://radiographics.rsnajnls.org/cgi/reprint/23/1/195.pdf Glossary of Medical Devices and Procedures: Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Definitions]</ref> **Used among computer professionals. For example, in [[Unix]] scripting, it is used in combination with an exclamation mark ("#!") to produce a "[[Shebang (Unix)|shebang]]" or "hash-bang", used to tell the [[Kernel (computer science)|kernel]] which program to use to run the script. *hex **from its use to denote [[hexadecimal]] values in some markup and programming languages *mesh **introduced in the tonsil of the [[Intercal]] reference manual, and often reproduced in [[Hacker's dictionary|The Hacker's Dictionary]] *octothorp / octothorpe / octathorp / octatherp **See [[wiktionary:octothorpe]] for etymology. With some detail at [http://www.octothorp.us/octothorp.html www.octothorp.us]. **See [http://doug.kerr.home.att.net/pumpkin/index.htm#Octatherp Doug Kerr's Octatherp article] for detailed alternate etymology of ''octotherp''. **See [http://www.svpal.org/~dickel/octothorp/Encore_magazine.pdf Encore magazine article "Pressing matters: touch-tone phones spark debates"] for another attribution to Bell engineers, by 1968. Lauren Asplund, who provided the article, says that he and a colleague were the source of ''octothorp'' at AT&T engineering in New York in 1964. **''The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories'', 1991, has a long article that is consistent with Doug Kerr's essay, in that it says ''octotherp'' was the original spelling, and that the word arose in the 1960s among telephone engineers. ** The first appearance of ''octothorp'' in a U. S. patent is in a 1973 filing which also refers to the asterisk (*) as a ''sextile''.[http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT3920926&id=k-kuAAAAEBAJ&dq=octothorp&as_drrb_ap=q&as_minm_ap=1&as_miny_ap=2006&as_maxm_ap=1&as_maxy_ap=2006&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=1&as_miny_is=2006&as_maxm_is=1&as_maxy_is=2006&jtp=1#PRA1-PA3,M1] ** http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-oct1.htm tells of three possible etymologies, none likely, and says it was not in print until 1974, so the Merriam-Webster story that says it appeared in the 1960s may be more credible. *pound **Used as the symbol for the [[pound (mass)|pound (the unit of mass)]] in the U.S. (where lb. would be used in the UK and Canada; note that lb. or lbs. is common in the U.S. as well and is used by the general public more often than #). It is never called the [[pound sign]] in the UK, where that term always denotes the symbol for [[Pound Sterling|pounds sterling]] (£) rather than that for pounds weight (lb). ***Keith Gordon Irwin in, ''The Romance of Writing'', p. 125 says: "The Italian libbra (from the old Latin word libra, 'balance') represented a weight almost exactly equal to the avoirdupois pound of England. The Italian abbreviation of lb with a line drawn across the letters was used for both weights. The business clerks' hurried way of writing the abbreviation appears to have been responsible for the # sign used for pound." **Used in the U.S. and Canada on [[touch-tone]] [[telephone]]s &ndash; "Please press the pound key" *[[Sharp (music)|sharp]] **resemblance to the glyph used in [[music notation]], U+266F (♯). Since most fonts do not contain the sharp sign, many works use the fallback number sign. **so called in the name of the [[Microsoft]]-invented programming language, [[C Sharp programming language|C<nowiki>#</nowiki>]]. However Microsoft says at [http://msdn.microsoft.com/vcsharp/support/faq/default.aspx Frequently Asked Questions About C#]:<br>''It's not the "hash" (or pound) symbol as most people believe. It's actually supposed to be the musical sharp symbol. However, because the sharp symbol is not present on the standard keyboard, it's easier to type the hash ("#") symbol. The name of the language is, of course, pronounced "see sharp".''<br>According to the [http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-334.htm ECMA-334 C# Language Specification], section 6, ''Acronyms and abbreviations,'' the name of the language is written "C#" ("LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C (U+0043) followed by the NUMBER SIGN # (U+0023)") and pronounced "C Sharp". **In [[computing]] a [[shebang (Unix)|shebang]] is the inexact [[contraction (grammar)|contraction]] of ''sharp'' and ''bang'' the typical names of the # and ! signs used at the beginning of executable text files. *space **used by editors to indicate where space should be inserted in a [[wiktionary:proof#noun|proof.]] This can mean (1) a ''line space'' (the space between two adjacent lines denoted by ''line #'' in the margin), (2) a ''hair space'' (the space between two letters in a word, denoted by ''hr #'') (3) a ''word space,'' or ''letter space'' (the space between two words on a line, two letter spaces being ##). Em- and en-spaces (being the length of a letter ''m'' and ''n,'' respectively) are indicated by a square-shaped [[space character|em- or en-quad character]] (  and {{unicode| ̷}}, respectively). *square **occasionally used in the UK (e.g. sometimes in [[BT Group|BT]] publications and automatic messages) - especially during the [[Prestel]] era, when the symbol was a page address delimiter **the International Telecommunications Union specification [[E.161|ITU-T E.161]] 3.2.2 states: "The # is to be known as a 'square' or the most commonly used equivalent term in other languages." ==Other uses== In a [[telephone keypad]] it is one of the two standard special keys beyond digits 0 to 9 (the other special key is the star key *). Pressing this # key, a compound tone mixing 941 Hz and 1477 Hz is sent to the line. Its special function depends on services provided by a given phone company. In a [[Uniform Resource Locator|URL]] the sign is used immediately after the URL of a [[webpage]] or other resource to introduce a "fragment identifier" – a <code>name</code> or <code>id</code> which defines a position within that resource or a section of the document. For example, in the URL <code>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_sign#Other_uses</code> the portion after the # (<code>Other_uses</code>) is the fragment identifier (a link such as this will take you to a section in a web page, such as the 'In other languages' section of this article). A relative reference to the fragment from within the document itself can start with the number sign, and consist of just the fragment identifier: <nowiki><a href="#top">TOC</a></nowiki> refers to an anchor named "top" on the current web page. [http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/intro/intro.html#fragment-uri] In the [[C preprocessor]], as used in the [[C (programming language)|C programming language]] and elsewhere, the sign is used to introduce preprocessor directives, as in <code>#define MAX 25</code>, for example. In several [[assembly language]]s, the sign is used preceding an expression to denote an immediate value. In writing [[press release]]s, the notation "###" indicates that there is no further copy to come. In many countries, such as [[Norway]], a "#" is used as a [[delimiter]] between different drugs on [[medical prescription]]s. [http://www.turnuslegen.no/legejus/reseptlaere.htm] In chess, the # symbol represents [[checkmate]]. ==In other languages== * [[Albanian language|Albanian]]: "''diezis''", (sharp), a loan from Greek. * [[Arabic language|Arabic]]: "مربع", pronounced "''morabaa''" (square) * [[Basque language|Basque]]: ''Traol'' * [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]: ''диез'' (''diyez'', from French ''dièse'', "sharp sign") * [[Catalan language|Catalan]]: ''Coixinet'' * [[Chinese language|Chinese]]: "井號" (''jǐng hào''; literally: ''"well" sign'') as it resembles the [[hanzi]] for "[[water well]]", [[:wiktionary:井|井]]; ''jǐng'' * [[Czech language|Czech]]: ''mřížka'' (''small grid'' or ''small bar'') * [[Danish language|Danish]]: ''firkant'' (''tetragon'', i.e. ''square''), the official name used by telcos for touch-tone key, or havelåge (''garden gate'' from the gate in a picket [[fence]]) * [[Dutch language|Dutch]]: ''hekje'' (''small fence''), ''spoorwegteken'' (''railroad sign''), ''matje'' (''mat''), ''kardinaalteken'' (''cardinal sign''), ''kruis'' (when the musical sharp symbol is meant) * [[Estonian language|Estonian]]: ''trellid'' (''grate'') * [[Finnish language|Finnish]]: ''ristikkomerkki'' ("grid mark"), ''ruutu'' ("square") or ''risuaita'' ("brushwood fence") * [[French language|French]]: ''dièse'' in music (''[[Sharp (music)|sharp]] sign'') or ''cardinal'' in math (to represent [[cardinality]]). In [[Québec]] and [[Benelux]] it is called carré (square) in the context of a phone keyboard. * [[German language|German]]: ''Raute'' or Rautenzeichen (''[[Rhombus]]'', the official name used by telephone companies for the touch-tone key), ''Lattenzaun'' (''picket fence''), ''Doppelkreuz'' (''double [[cross]]''), ''Gatter'' (''gate'') * [[Greek language|Greek]]: ''δίεση'' (''diesis'' -- the name of the music symbol) * [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: "סוּלָמִית", pronounced ''sulamit'' (from ''sulam''("ladder") + ''-it'' ([[diminutive]])) * [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]: ''kettőskereszt'' (''double cross'', misleadingly the same word as the one for [[double dagger]] and [[patriarchal cross]]; only used in telephone service) * [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]: ''ferkantur'' (square), ''kassi'' (box) * [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]]: ''pagar'' (fence) * [[Italian language|Italian]]: ''cancelletto'' (''small gate'') * [[Japanese language|Japanese]]: "番号記号" (''bangōkigō'', "number sign"); "井桁" (''igeta'', literally the rim of a well, which is traditionally this shape) or "シャープ" (''sharp'' in [[katakana]]) * [[Latvian language|Latvian]]: ''restīte'' ("little grid") * [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]: ''grotelės'' (little grid) * [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]]: ''firkant'' (''tetragon'', i.e. ''square'') or (sometimes) ''skigard'' (A particular kind of ''fence'' with a visual resemblance) * [[Persian language|Persian]]: "چهارگوش" (''Four-Corner'') pronounced "''Chaa'haa'r Goo'sh''" * [[Polish language|Polish]]: ''kratka'', ''krzyżyk'' (''sharp sign''), ''płotek'', ''hash'' * [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]: ''cardinal'', used in mathematics notation to represent the [[cardinality]] of a set, ''sustenido'' ("sharp sign"), ''jogo-da-velha'' or ''jogo-do-galo'' ("[[tic-tac-toe]]"). Also known as "cerquinha" in Brazil because it resembles a picket fence (cerca). * [[Romanian language|Romanian]]: ''diez'' ("sharp sign") * [[Russian language|Russian]]: ''решётка'' (''ryeshotka'' "grid"); in music ''диез'' (''diyez'', from French ''dièse'', "sharp sign") * [[Serbian language|Serbian]]: ''тараба / taraba'' (''fence'') * [[Slovak language|Slovak]]: ''mriežka'' ("small grid") * [[Slovenian language|Slovenian]]: ''lojtra'' (the official name used by telcos for the touch-tone key, a colloquial term for ''[[ladder]]'') * [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: ''numeral'', ''cardinal'', ''cuadradillo'', ''almohadilla'' ("cushion"), ''michi'', ''gato'', ''tatetí'' (the last three meaning "[[tic-tac-toe]]") * [[Swedish language|Swedish]]: ''stakettecken'' ("fence sign"), ''staket'' ("fence"), ''galler'' ("grid, grating") ''fyrkant'' ("square"), ''ruta'' ("square, box"), ''vedstapel'' ("stack of wood") or ''brädgård'' ("timberyard") * [[Swiss German (linguistics)|Swiss German]]: ''Gartehag'' (fence) * [[Thai language|Thai]]: "เครื่องหมายสี่เหลี่ยม" (''square sign'', only used in telephone service) * [[Turkish language|Turkish]]: ''Sayı işareti'', also ''diyez'', derived from Greek. ==See also== * [[Numero sign]] * [[Telephone keypad]] ==External links== *[[wiktionary:Octothorpe]] for etymology. *[http://www.octothorp.us/octothorp.html www.octothorp.us] *[http://doug.kerr.home.att.net/pumpkin/index.htm#Octatherp Doug Kerr's Octatherp article] for detailed alternate etymology of ''octotherp''. *[http://www.svpal.org/~dickel/octothorp/Encore_magazine.pdf Encore magazine article "Pressing matters: touch-tone phones spark debates"] for another attribution to Bell engineers. *[http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-oct1.htm World Wide Words entry] gives three possible etymologies *[http://www.quinion.com/words/weirdwords/ww-oct1.htm '''Weird Words''' entry] for this symbol. *[http://www.bartleby.com/61/88/O0028850.html '''World Heritage Dictionary''' entry] for this symbol. ==References== <references/> [[Category:Punctuation]] [[Category:Typography]] [[ca:Coixinet]] [[da:Nummertegn]] [[de:Rautenzeichen]] [[eu:Traol]] [[fr:Croisillon]] [[it:Cancelletto]] [[he:סולמית]] [[hu:Számjel]] [[nl:Kardinaalteken]] [[ja:番号記号]] [[pl:Kratka (znak)]] [[pt:Cerquilha]] [[ru:Октоторп]] [[fi:Ristikkomerkki]] [[sv:Nummertecken]] [[uk:Октоторп]] [[zh:井號]]