A typographic stroke, and the single most characteristic idea in shell scripting.
As a typographic mark the vertical bar separates alternatives or delimits a table column. Between two commands in a shell it connects the first one's output straight to the second one's input, so data flows through a chain without ever touching a file. Documentation calls both 'the pipe character', which is where the conflation comes from.
The same character. The vertical bar is the typographic mark; the pipe operator is what a shell does with it.
| Vertical bar | Shell pipe operator | |
|---|---|---|
| Read by | A person | The shell |
| What it does | Separates or delimits | Connects one command's output to the next one's input |
| Introduced | Typographic convention | Unix, 1973 |
| Defined by | Convention | POSIX shell grammar |
| Relationship (from Symbolwise's records) | Commonly confused with Shell pipe operator — The same character. The vertical bar is the typographic mark; the pipe operator is what a shell does with it. | Commonly confused with Vertical bar — The same character. The vertical bar is the typographic mark; the pipe operator is what a shell does with it. |
Unicode Code Chart: Basic Latin (U+0000–U+007F)
The Unicode Consortium · retrieved 2026-07-30
Authoritative for the character's code point, name and block only. Unicode assigns identity; it does not define what a symbol means in use.
POSIX.1-2024, Shell Command Language
The Open Group / IEEE · retrieved 2026-08-01
Cited for the shell's operator grammar — which characters are operators and what they do — and for nothing outside it. It standardises a notation that already existed rather than inventing one, so records here describe documented practice that POSIX also pins down.
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-01
Tertiary reference. Used for widely-agreed identity, origin and current use, not for contested detail or exact dates.
Both are drawn as one continuous decorative stroke with a closed loop and a tail that crosses back over itself, which is why a description of the shape alone reaches both. The clef is far taller, spans a stave, and its spiral encircles one specific line — that encircled line is the note G, and it is the only reason the shape is drawn where it is.
As punctuation the asterisk points at a footnote or marks a required field. In a filename pattern typed at a shell it matches any run of characters, including none — and the shell expands it against real filenames before the command runs, so the command never sees the pattern at all. That expansion is the part people are surprised by.
Check where the dot sits. A dot immediately to the right of the notehead adds half the note's value again — a dotted half note lasts three beats. A dot directly above or below the head means staccato: play it short and detached. One dot, two opposite instructions, and only position distinguishes them.
Look at whether the adult is standing or seated. Baby changing shows an adult leaning over an infant on a table — a facility for changing a nappy. A nursing room shows a seated figure holding an infant — a private space for feeding. They are separate rooms, and signage that conflates them sends people to the wrong one.