An asterisk is a typographical symbol that looks like a star. It is usually five- or six-pointed in print and six- or eight-pointed when handwritten, although more complex forms exist. The most common use of an asterisk is to call out a footnote in writing. It can also be used to clarify a statement or to censor inappropriate language. In computer science, the asterisk is commonly used as a wildcard character, or to denote pointers, repetition, or multiplication. Other uses of an asterisk include:
- In HTML web forms, an asterisk can be used to denote required fields.
- In travel industry Global Distribution Systems, the asterisk is the display command to retrieve all or part of a Passenger Name Record.
- In chat room etiquette, one asterisk can be used to correct a misspelled word that has already been submitted.
- In all branches of mathematics, the asterisk is used to designate a correspondence between two quantities denoted by the same symbol.
In formal and academic writing, the asterisk is used to indicate a footnote or to denote an omission of letters or words.
