Encyclopedia

question mark

Also found in: Dictionary, Medical, Legal, Financial, Acronyms, Idioms, Wikipedia.

question mark

Question marks ( ? ) are used to identify sentences that ask a question (technically known as interrogative sentences). They almost always appear at the end of a sentence, marking its conclusion (though there is a specific exception to this rule).

question mark

(character)
"?", ASCII character 63.

Common names: query; ITU-T: question mark; ques. Rare: whatmark; INTERCAL: what; wildchar; huh; hook; buttonhook; hunchback.

Question mark is used, along with colon for C's lazy triadic "if" operator (similar to the IIF function in Visual Basic). The expression x?y:z evaluates x, then if x is true it returns y else it returns z.

In Unix shell file name patterns, question mark matches any single character.
This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

question mark

In C programming, the question mark is used as a conditional symbol. For example, in the expression x1 ? x2 : x3, if x1 is not zero, then x2 is evaluated, otherwise x3 is evaluated.
Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
Mentioned in
References in periodicals archive
He is convinced that students benefit from the immediate feedback provided by Question Mark. And teachers can accurately assess what has been learned and what needs to be reinforced.
"I think the question mark will cause a good deal of interest.
The Jockey Club Stakes (3.10) is an interesting early test for the top middle-distance/Cup horses, but as a betting heat it fails to excite because of question marks about the race-readiness of the six seasonal debutants.
He later burned it on the site of the former locomotive works in Glasgow (now a monolithic supermarket), revealing the ubiquitous question mark.
Chip Coakley revealed the symbol in question is two dots, one above the other, similar in appearance to a colon, rather than the familiar squiggle of the modern question mark.
FERRARI aim to exploit Michael Schumacher's new role as consultant to take away the question marks over Kimi Raikkonen.
'We are against anyone, United fans or fans of other clubs, who try to put question marks against any of our players,' he said.
"He came to look round Liverpool for a few days and decided a question mark was the appropriate thing to offer the city
But the big question mark hanging over them is their forwards.
"This is a valuable new analysis that puts a big question mark over what was thought to be the best evidence for ancient fire use," remarks anthropologist Christopher B.
TIGER WOODS is targeting a fifth Masters title on his latest return to golf, with big rival Sergio Garcia claiming there is still a "big question mark" over the American's fitness.
ISLAMABAD, January 31, 2011 (Balochistan Times): Many deadlines of the Zero-Point Interchange completion have passed but its completion is still a question mark. It has been irritating the commuters for so long.
Copyright © 2003-2025 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.