octothorpe

plural octothorpes · alternative octothorp

1. USmediaThe hash or square symbol #, used mainly in telephony and computing.

   Strings are enclosed in double quotation marks, numbers are not enclosed in anything, and dates and Boolean values are enclosed between octothorpe (#) characters.

   2004, Andrew Douglas Pitonyak, Openoffice.org Macros Explained, Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin: Hentzenwerke Publishing, →ISBN, page 139

   3 more examples

   The pad 1 provides keys for numerals 0 to 9, while the sextile or asterisk (*) key is decoded to provide a decimal point and the octothorp ( # ) key generates a command to send the contents of the memory unto the telephone line through a send circuit 7, a coupling circuit 8 and the hybrid network 2.

   1973, US patent application ser. no. 05/422,816 (filed 3 December 1973), issued as patent no. 3,920,926 (18 November 1975), Telephone Data Set Including Visual Display Means, col. 3

   A select group of Sears customers were given a "how to" manual on ordering goods by Touch-Tone. The octothorpe (#) and asterisk (*) buttons are used to separate information and to indicate end of transmission. This is the first system in Canada in which the general public has direct access to a computer from their homes.

   1973 December 28, H. R. W. Morrison (Bell Canada-Computer Communications Group), “"Tomorrow" is here”, in Computers and Automation, volume 22, number 12, page 34

   Octothorp is the # on a push-button telephone. Rumor at the telephone company is that a man named Charles B. Octothorp, wanting to make his name famous, would approach anyone with a Touch-Tone ’phone, stop, and say admiringly, “That’s a mighty handsome octothorp you have there.”

   1982, Willard R. Espy, A Children's Almanac of Words at Play, New York: Clarkson N. Potter, →ISBN, retrieved 18 Jan 2022, page 230

   Synonyms: hash, hashtag, number sign, octothorn, pound sign