Caret is the name for the symbol ^ in ASCII and some other character sets. Its Unicode code point is U+005E, and its ASCII code in hexadecimal is 5E. Strictly speaking, the caret character in common use is actually referred to in the Unicode standard as the "CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT"; the Unicode character named "CARET" is actually a distinct, much less common character, at code point U+2038 (‸). There is also a combining mark, U+0302 "COMBINING CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT", which is used when a circumflex accent is to be added as a diacritical mark to another letter. However, the term "caret" is most frequently used to refer to the first of these. Often it's spelled phonetically, Carat. It is also a mark used by an author or editor to indicate where something is to be inserted into a text. Image:ASCII fullsvg There are 95 printable ASCII characters, numbered 32 to 126. ... A character encoding is a code that pairs a set of characters (such as an alphabet or syllabary) with a set of something else, such as numbers or electrical pulses. ... The Unicode Standard, Version 5. ... Combining characters are characters that are intended to modify other characters. ... The circumflex ( ˆ ) (often called a caret, a hat or an uppen) is a diacritic mark used in written Greek, French, Dutch, Esperanto, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Vietnamese, Japanese romaji, Welsh, Portuguese, Italian, Afrikaans and other languages, and formerly in Turkish [citation needed]. It received its English name from Latin circumflexus (bent...

Uses and history

The caret was originally used, and continues to be, in handwritten form as a proofreading mark to indicate where a punctuation mark, word or phrase should be inserted in a document. The term comes from the Latin caret, "it lacks", from 'carēre', to lack; to be separated from; to be free from. The caret symbol is written below the line of text for a line-level punctuation mark such as a comma, or above for a higher character such as an apostrophe; the material to be inserted may be placed inside the caret, in the margin, or above the line. Proofreading means reading a proof copy of a text in order to detect and correct any errors. ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... The term comma has various uses; comma is the name used for one of the punctuation symbols: , The term comma is also used in music theory for various small intervals that arise as differences between approximately equal intervals. ... For the prime symbol (′) used for feet and inches, see Prime (symbol). ...

The caret is also found on some typewriters, where it is used to denote a circumflex accent in languages which require it, such as French. The circumflex ( ˆ ) (often called a caret, a hat or an uppen) is a diacritic mark used in written Greek, French, Dutch, Esperanto, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Vietnamese, Japanese romaji, Welsh, Portuguese, Italian, Afrikaans and other languages, and formerly in Turkish [citation needed]. It received its English name from Latin circumflexus (bent...

In statistics, the caret is used to denote an estimator or an estimated value, as opposed to its theoretical counterpart. This article is about the field of statistics. ... In statistics, an estimator is a function of the observable sample data that is used to estimate an unknown population parameter; an estimate is the result from the actual application of the function to a particular set of data. ...

In mathematics and physics, a caret appearing above a letter indicates a unit vector (a vector with a magnitude of 1). For other meanings of mathematics or uses of math and maths, see Mathematics (disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation). ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... In mathematics, a unit vector in a normed vector space is a vector (often a spatial vector) whose length, (or magnitude) is 1. ... This article is about vectors that have a particular relation to the spatial coordinates. ... The magnitude of a mathematical object is its size: a property by which it can be larger or smaller than other objects of the same kind; in technical terms, an ordering of the class of objects to which it belongs. ...

In mathematics, a caret can signify an exponent (3^5 for 3⁵) where superscript is difficult or impossible (such as on some graphing calculators). “Exponent” redirects here. ... This article is about the terms subscript and superscript as used in typography. ... A typical graphing calculator. ...

In mathematics, a caret placed above an element of a set can signify that that element has been removed from the set.

In programming languages the caret is used either to signify exponent, or to represent a bitwise XOR operator. The use of as exponent can be traced back to ALGOL 60, which expressed the exponentiation operator as an upward-pointing arrow, intended to evoke the superscript notation common in mathematics. The up-arrow character was codified as character 5E in the original 1963 version of the ASCII standard; however, this was a short-lived placement. The 1965 ECMA-6 standard replaced the up-arrow with the currently-used caret (and the left-arrow with the underscore); two years later, the second revision of ASCII followed suit, due to pressure from international standards committees requiring the character's presence as a diacritical mark (the circumflex). The caret is commonly used to signify control characters via caret notation. A programming language is an artificial language that can be used to control the behavior of a machine, particularly a computer. ... “Exponent” redirects here. ... Exclusive disjunction (usual symbol xor) is a logical operator that results in true if one of the operands (not both) is true. ... ALGOL (short for ALGOrithmic Language) is a programming language originally developed in the mid 1950s which became the de facto standard way to report algorithms in print for almost the next 30 years. ... “Exponent” redirects here. ... This article is about the term superscript as used in typography. ... Image:ASCII fullsvg There are 95 printable ASCII characters, numbered 32 to 126. ... The underscore _ is the character with ASCII value 95. ... A diacritic mark or accent mark is an additional mark added to a basic letter. ... Caret notation is a notation for unprintable control characters in ASCII encoding. ...

In regular expressions the caret is used to mark the beginning of a string, or the beginning of a line within that string. In computing, a regular expression is a string that is used to describe or match a set of strings, according to certain syntax rules. ...

In logic the caret is used as a propositional operator to symbolize logical conjunction otherwise known as an "and" statement. e.g. pq. Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. ... In logic, a logical connective is a syntactic operation on sentences, or the symbol for such an operation, that corresponds to a logical operation on the logical values of those sentences. ... AND Logic Gate In logic and mathematics, logical conjunction (usual symbol and) is a two-place logical operation that results in a value of true if both of its operands are true, otherwise a value of false. ...

Other meanings

The term caret is also sometimes used in graphical user interface terminology where it means a text insertion point indicator, frequently represented by a blinking vertical bar. In this context, it may be used interchangeably with the word cursor, although the latter term is often reserved for a mouse pointer. GUI redirects here. ... A blinking text cursor. ... Operating a mechanical 1: Pulling the mouse turns the ball. ...

See also

• Circumflex
• Turned v

The circumflex ( ˆ ) (often called a caret, a hat or an uppen) is a diacritic mark used in written Greek, French, Dutch, Esperanto, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Vietnamese, Japanese romaji, Welsh, Portuguese, Italian, Afrikaans and other languages, and formerly in Turkish [citation needed]. It received its English name from Latin circumflexus (bent... Turned v (majuscule: , minuscule: ) is a letter of the Latin alphabet, based on a turned form of V. It is used in some African languages. ...

External links

• "ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Infiltration by Tom Jennings
• Eric W. Weisstein, Caret at MathWorld.