Exclamation Point

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What Does Exclamation Point Mean?

In computing devices, an exclamation point is the punctuation mark provided in standard keyboards, smartphones and other devices. Apart from the usage of indicating strong feelings while messaging or chatting, an exclamation point has a wide range of usage in computer science. In most operating systems, exclamation points are used for indicating warnings, errors and precautionary steps or statements.

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An exclamation point is also known as an exclamation mark or, in the context of computing, a bang.

Techopedia Explains Exclamation Point

Some programming and scripting languages also use exclamation points to indicate warnings and errors, as well as a method to identify a non-executable line of the code/statement. In UNIX scripting, the exclamation point is used for telling the operating system which application to use for running the script. In mathematical functionalities, the exclamation point is often used as factorial and for logical negation.

On a standard computer/laptop keyboard, the exclamation point is created with a combination of the Shift key and the 1 key. In the case of smartphones and other devices, the exclamation mark is provided in the numeric or symbol section of the keyboard.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.