control character
1
6.3
- noun
- /kənˈtroʊl ˈkɛrɪktər/
- Specialized
:
carácter de control
- When printing documents, ensure that control characters like tab and carriage return are recognized.
Examples
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In digital communication, control characters help manage the flow of data between devices.
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How good is the support for control character symbols (e.g., "space", "newline", "tab", ...)?
Blog text (3) -
From the TryParse or IsNumeric point of view, a string can still be numeric even if it has some control characters or follows a specific format, as it can still be converted to a number.
Blog text (33) -
Control characters are essential for formatting text in programming languages.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a non-printing symbol used to control text interpretation' is directly derivable from combining 'control' (to regulate or manage) with 'character' (a symbol); the compound denotes a character that performs a controlling function. This noun–noun compositional pattern is common and appears similarly in other languages (e.g., Spanish 'carácter de control'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer the meaning.
Etymology
Control character comes from early computers and printers, where a character could be a visible letter or an invisible code and the control ones sent small commands like 'move to a new line' or 'tab'. So today a control character is an invisible symbol that tells a machine how to handle or show text.