Null character

Common card · No. 326161

The null character is a control character with the value zero. Many character sets include a code point for a null character – including Unicode (Universal Coded Character Set), ASCII (ISO/IEC 646), Baudot, ITA2 codes, the C0 control code, and EBCDIC. In modern character sets, the null character has a code point value of zero which is generally translated to a single code unit with a zero value. For instance, in UTF-8, it is a single, zero byte. Originally, its meaning was like NOP – when sent to a printer or a terminal, it had no effect (although some terminals incorrectly displayed it as space). When electromechanical teleprinters were used as computer output devices, one or more null characters were sent at the end of each printed line to allow time for the mechanism to return to the first printing position on the next line. On punched tape, the character is represented with no holes at all, so a new unpunched tape is initially filled with null characters, and often text could be inserted...

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