Tilde

The tilde was originally one of a variety of marks written over an omitted letter or several letters as a scribal abbreviation (a "mark of contraction").Martin, Charles Trice (1910). The record interpreter : a collection of abbreviations, Latin words and names used in English historical manuscripts and records (2nd ed.). London, preface, p.5 [https://archive.org/details/recordinterprete00martuoft/page/n9/mode/2up] Thus, the commonly used words Anno Domini were frequently abbreviated to A^o Dñi, with an elevated terminal with a contraction mark placed over the "n". Such a mark could denote the omission of one letter or several letters. This saved on the expense of the scribe's labor and the cost of vellum and ink. Medieval European charters written in Latin are largely made up of such abbreviated words with contraction marks and other abbreviations; only uncommon words were given in full.

The text of the Domesday Book of 1086, relating for example, to the manor of Molland in Devon (see adjacent picture), is highly abbreviated as indicated by numerous tildes.

File:Text of Exeter Domesday Book of 1086.jpg of 1086]]

The text with abbreviations expanded is as follows:

{{blockquote|{{lang|la|Mollande tempore regis Eduardi geldabat pro quattuor hidis et uno ferling. Terra est quadraginta carucae. In dominio sunt tres carucae et decem servi et triginta villani et viginti bordarii cum sedecim carucis. Ibi duodecim acrae prati et quindecim acrae silvae. Pastura tres leugae in longitudine et latitudine. Reddit quattuor et viginti libras ad pensam. Huic manerio est adjuncta Blachepole. Elwardus tenebat tempore regis Edwardi pro manerio et geldabat pro dimidia hida. Terra est duae carucae. Ibi sunt quinque villani cum uno servo. Valet viginti solidos ad pensam et arsuram. Eidem manerio est injuste adjuncta Nimete et valet quindecim solidos. Ipsi manerio pertinet tercius denarius de Hundredis Nortmoltone et Badentone et Brantone et tercium animal pasturae morarum.}}}}

:{{resize|Translation: In the time of King Edward Mollande gelded for four hides and one ferling. The land is forty carucates. In the domain there are three barons and ten serfs and thirty peasants and twenty bordars with sixteen barons. There are twelve acres of meadow and fifteen acres of wood. A pasture three leagues in length and breadth. It should weigh four and twenty pounds. Blachepole is attached to this manor. Elward held it in the time of King Edward for a manor and gelded for half a hide. The earth is two carucas. There are five peasants with one servant. It is worth twenty shillings for weighing and burning. The same manor is unjustly attached to Nimes and is worth fifteen shillings. To the manor belongs a third of the penny of the Hundred of Nortmolton and Badenton and Branton, and a third of the cattle of the pasture.}}

{{more|Dead key|Diacritic}}

File:Olivetti Lettera 32.JPG typewriter (Portuguese Model) with tilde (and circumflex) dead-key beside {{keypress|Ç}} ]]

File:Idazmakina.jpg

On typewriters designed for languages that routinely use diacritics (accent marks), there are two possible solutions. Keys can be dedicated to precomposed characters or alternatively a dead key mechanism can be provided. With the latter, a mark is made when a dead key is typed, but unlike normal keys, the paper carriage does not move on and thus the next letter to be typed is printed under that accent. Typewriters for Spanish typically have a dedicated key for Ñ/ñ but, as Portuguese uses Ã/ã and Õ/õ, a single dead-key (rather than take two keys to dedicate) is the most practical solution.

The tilde symbol did not exist independently as a movable type or hot-lead printing character since the type cases for Spanish or Portuguese would include sorts for the accented forms.

The first ASCII standard (X3.64-1963) did not have a tilde.{{cite book |url=https://textfiles.meulie.net/bitsaved/Books/Mackenzie_CodedCharSets.pdf |title=Coded Character Sets, History and Development |series=The Systems Programming Series |author-last=Mackenzie |author-first=Charles E. |date=1980 |edition=1 |publisher=Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. |isbn=978-0-201-14460-4 |lccn=77-90165 |access-date=2019-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526172151/https://textfiles.meulie.net/bitsaved/Books/Mackenzie_CodedCharSets.pdf |archive-date=May 26, 2016 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}{{rp|246}} Like Portuguese and Spanish, the French, German and Scandinavian languages also needed symbols in excess of the basic 26 needed for English. The ASA worked with and through the CCITT to internationalize the code-set, to meet the basic needs of at least the Western European languages.

{{blockquote|It appears to have been at their May 13–15, 1963 meeting that the CCITT decided that the proposed ISO 7-bit code standard would be suitable for their needs if a lower case alphabet and five diacritical marks [...] were added to it.{{cite web |title=Meeting of CCITT Working Party on the New Telegraph Alphabet |url= https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/ascii-history/ccit.html |publisher=CCITT |date=May 15, 1963}} See Paragraph 3. At the October 29–31 meeting, then, the ISO subcommittee altered the ISO draft to meet the CCITT requirements, replacing the up-arrow and left-arrow with diacriticals, adding diacritical meanings to the apostrophe and quotation mark, and making the number sign a dual{{efn|alternative association for the same code point}} for the tilde.{{cite web |title=Memorandum to Members, Alternates, and Consultants of A.S.A. X3.2 and task groups |vauthors=((L. L. Griffin, Chairman, X3.2)) | publisher=US Department of the Navy |url=https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/ascii-history/iso.html |page=8 |date=29 November 1963}}|source=Yucca's free information site (which cites the original sources).{{cite web|url=https://jkorpela.fi/latin1/ascii-hist.html#60|title=Character histories: notes on some ASCII code positions}}}}

Thus ISO{{nbsp}}646 was born (and the ASCII standard updated to X3.64-1967), providing the tilde and other symbols as optional characters.{{rp|247}}{{efn|ISO{{nbsp}}646 (and ASCII, which it includes) is a standard for 7-bit encoding, providing just 96 printable characters (and 32 control characters). This was insufficient to meet the needs of Western European languages and so the standard specifies certain code points that are available for national variation. With the arrival of 8-bit "extended ASCII", this issue was largely mitigated, though not fully resolved until Unicode was established.}}

ISO{{nbsp}}646 and ASCII incorporated many of the overprinting lower-case diacritics from typewriters, including tilde. Overprinting was intended to work by putting a backspace code between the codes for letter and diacritic.{{cite web |title= Second ISO draft proposal {{!}} 6 and 6 bit character codes for information processing interchange |publisher =ISO |date=December 1963 |url=https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/ascii-history/draft.html}} See paragraph 2 {{Citation needed span|However even at that time, mechanisms that could do this or any other overprinting were not widely available, did not work for capital letters, and were impossible on video displays, with the result that this concept failed to gain significant acceptance. Consequently, many of these free-standing diacritics (and the underscore) were quickly reused by software as additional syntax, basically becoming new types of syntactic symbols that a programming language could use. As this usage became predominant, type design gradually evolved so these diacritic characters became larger and more vertically centered, making them useless as overprinted diacritics but much easier to read as free-standing characters that had come to be used for entirely different and novel purposes. Most modern fonts align the plain ASCII "spacing" (free-standing) tilde at the same level as dashes, or only slightly higher.|date=October 2024}}

The free-standing tilde is at code 126 in ASCII, where it was inherited into Unicode as U+007E.

A similar shaped mark ({{char|⁓}}) is known in typography and lexicography as a swung dash: these are used in dictionaries to indicate the omission of the entry word.{{Citation | url = http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=swung+dash&sub=Search+WordNet&o2=&o0=1&o8=1&o1=1&o7=&o5=&o9=&o6=&o3=&o4=&h=000000000000 | title = WordNet | type = search | edition = 3.0 | contribution = Swung dash}}

{{Main|Ñ}}

File:Logotipo del Instituto Cervantes.svg

File:Logo de CNN en Español (2010-2015).svg

As indicated by the etymological origin of the word "tilde" in English, this symbol has been closely associated with the Spanish language. The connection stems from the use of the tilde above the letter {{angbr|n}} to form the (different) letter {{angbr|ñ}} in Spanish, a feature shared by only a few other languages, most of which are historically connected to Spanish. This peculiarity can help non-native speakers quickly identify a text as being written in Spanish with little chance of error. Particularly during the 1990s, Spanish-speaking intellectuals and news outlets demonstrated support for the language and the culture by defending this letter against globalisation and computerisation trends that threatened to remove it from keyboards and other standardised products and codes.{{cite web|title=26 argumentos para seguir defendiendo la Ñ|url=http://www.larazon.es/historico/651-26-argumentos-para-seguir-defendiendo-la-n-SLLA_RAZON_352314#.Ttt1ZN8CWth9pio|website=La Razón|access-date=31 January 2016|date=11 January 2011}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/internacionales/batalla-de-la-n-una-aventura-quijotesca-para-defender-el-alma-de-la-lengua-797718.html |title=Batalla de la Ñ: Una aventura quijotesca para defender el alma de la lengua |last=AFP |date=18 November 2004 |website=Periódico ABC Paraguay |access-date=31 January 2016}} The Instituto Cervantes, founded by Spain's government to promote the Spanish language internationally, chose as its logo a highly stylised {{char|Ñ}} with a large tilde. The 24-hour news channel CNN in the US later adopted a similar strategy on its existing logo for the launch of its Spanish-language version, therefore being written as CN͠N. And similarly to the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Spain men's national basketball team is nicknamed "ÑBA".

In Spanish itself the word {{lang|es|tilde}} is used more generally for diacritics, including the stress-marking acute accent.[http://dle.rae.es/?id=ZkHNOE8 Diccionario de la lengua española], Real Academia Española The diacritic {{char|~}} is more commonly called {{lang|es|virgulilla}} or {{lang|es|la tilde de la eñe}}, and is not considered an accent mark in Spanish, but rather simply a part of the letter {{char|ñ}} (much like the dot over {{char|ı}} makes an {{char|i}} character that is familiar to readers of English).

The English language does not use the tilde as a diacritic, though it is used in some loanwords. The standalone form of the symbol is used more widely. Informally, it means "approximately", "about", or "around", such as "~30 minutes before", meaning "approximately 30 minutes before".{{cite web|url=https://www.microsoft.com/typography/developers/fdsspec/maths.aspx|title=Character design standards – Maths|website=Microsoft}} It may also mean "similar to",{{cite web| first =Liam | last = Quinn |url=http://htmlhelp.com/reference/html40/entities/symbols.html |title=HTML 4.0 Entities for Symbols and Greek Letters |publisher=HTML help |access-date=11 November 2011}} including "of the same order of magnitude as",{{cite web|url=http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Tilde.html | publisher = Wolfram/MathWorld | title = Tilde |date=3 November 2011 |access-date=11 November 2011}} such as "{{math |{{mvar |x}} ~ {{mvar|y}}}}" meaning that {{mvar|x}} and {{mvar|y}} are of the same order of magnitude. Another approximation symbol is the double tilde {{char|≈}}, meaning "approximately/almost equal to".{{cite web |url=http://www.solving-math-problems.com/math-symbols-approximately-equal.html |title=Math Symbols... Those Most Valuable and Important: Approximately Equal Symbol |publisher=Solving Math problems |date=20 September 2010 |access-date=11 November 2011 |archive-date=9 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111109213922/http://www.solving-math-problems.com/math-symbols-approximately-equal.html |url-status=usurped }} The tilde is also used to indicate congruence of shapes by placing it over an {{char|1==}} symbol, thus {{char|≅}}.

In more recent digital usage, tildes on either side of a word or phrase have sometimes come to convey a particular tone that "let[s] the enclosed words perform both sincerity and irony", which can pre-emptively defuse a negative reaction.{{cite web |last1=Bernstein |first1=Joseph |title=The Hidden Language of The ~Tilde~ |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/the-hidden-language-of-the-tilde |website=BuzzFeed News |date=5 January 2015 |language=en}} For example, BuzzFeed journalist Joseph Bernstein interprets the tildes in the following tweet:

:"in the ~ spirit of the season ~ will now link to some of the (imho) #Bestof2014 sports reads. if you hate nice things, mute that hashtag."

as a way of making it clear that both the author and reader are aware that the enclosed phrase – "spirit of the season" – "is cliche and we know this quality is beneath our author, and we don't want you to think our author is a cliche person generally".{{efn|See also Air quotes.}}

Among other uses, the symbol has been used on social media to indicate sarcasm.{{cite web |title=The Internet Tilde Perfectly Conveys Something We Don't Have the Words to Explain |author= Jess Kimball Leslie | date=June 5, 2017 |website=The Cut |url=https://www.thecut.com/article/why-the-internet-tilde-is-our-most-perfect-tool-for-snark.html}} It may also be used online, especially in informal writing such as fanfiction, to convey a cutesy, playful, or flirtatious tone.{{cite web |title=What Are Tildes ( ~ ) And How Do You Use Them? | date=April 12, 2022 |website=Thesaurus.com |url=https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/tildes/}}

In some languages, the tilde is a diacritic mark placed over a letter to indicate a change in its pronunciation:

The tilde was firstly used in the polytonic orthography of Ancient Greek, as a variant of the circumflex, representing a rise in pitch followed by a return to standard pitch.{{Cite book |last=Peek |first=Philip S. |url=https://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0264/ch3.xhtml |title=Ancient Greek I: A 21st Century Approach; Module 3 - Accents and Accenting Verbs I |date=2021-10-19 |publisher=Open Book Publishers |isbn=978-1-80064-655-1 |pages=19–26 |doi=10.11647/OBP.0264.03 |doi-access=free |oclc=1277513901}}

File:Hic Fabricatur Naves.jpg showing Finnish economy, with the captions {{lang|la|Hic fabricantur naves}} and {{lang|la|Hic fabricantur bombarde}} abbreviated]]

Later, it was used to make abbreviations in medieval Latin documents. When an {{angle bracket|n}} or {{angle bracket|m}} followed a vowel, it was often omitted, and a tilde (physically, a small {{angle bracket|N}}) was placed over the preceding vowel to indicate the missing letter; this is the origin of the use of tilde to indicate nasalization (compare the development of the umlaut as an abbreviation of {{angle bracket|e}}.){{Citation needed|date=December 2024|reason=Seemingly contradicted by Reimer (2015)}} A tilde represented an omitted {{angle bracket|a}} or a syllable containing it.{{Cite web |last=Reimer |first=Stephen R. |date=30 May 2015 |title=IV.vi. Paleography: Scribal Abbreviations |url=https://sites.ualberta.ca/~sreimer/ms-course/course/abbrevtn.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241129100307/https://sites.ualberta.ca/~sreimer/ms-course/course/abbrevtn.htm |archive-date=2024-11-29 |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=Manuscript Studies: Medieval and Early Modern}} The practice of using the tilde over a vowel to indicate omission of an {{angle bracket|n}} or {{angle bracket|m}} continued in printed books in French as a means of reducing text length until the 17th century. It was also used in Portuguese and Spanish.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

The tilde was also used occasionally to make other abbreviations, such as over the letter {{angle bracket|q}}, making {{char|q̃}}, to signify the word que ("that"){{Citation needed|date=December 2024|reason=Seemingly contradicted by Reimer (2015)}}. It also appears for qua and together with the letter {{angle bracket|p}} to form {{char|p̃}} for pra.

It is also as a small {{angle bracket|n}} that the tilde originated when written above other letters, marking a Latin {{angle bracket|n}} which had been elided in old Galician-Portuguese. In modern Portuguese it indicates nasalization of the base vowel: {{lang|pt|mão}} "hand", from Lat. manu-; {{lang|pt|razões}} "reasons", from Lat. {{lang|la|rationes}}.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}} This usage has been adopted in the orthographies of several native languages of South America, such as Guarani and Nheengatu, as well as in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and many other phonetic alphabets. For example, {{IPA|[ljɔ̃]}} is the IPA transcription of the pronunciation of the French place-name Lyon.

In Breton, the symbol {{angle bracket|ñ}} after a vowel means that the letter {{angle bracket|n}} serves only to give the vowel a nasalised pronunciation, without being itself pronounced, as it normally is. For example, {{angle bracket|an}} gives the pronunciation {{IPA|[ãn]}} whereas {{angle bracket|añ}} gives {{IPA|[ã]}}.

In the DMG romanization of Tunisian Arabic, the tilde is used for nasal vowels õ and ṏ.

{{main|Ñ}}

The tilded {{angle bracket|n}} ({{angle bracket|ñ}}, {{angle bracket|Ñ}}) developed from the digraph {{angle bracket|nn}} in Spanish. In this language, {{angle bracket|ñ}} is considered a separate letter called eñe ({{IPA|es|ˈeɲe|IPA}}), rather than a letter-diacritic combination; it is placed in Spanish dictionaries between the letters {{angle bracket|n}} and {{angle bracket|o}}. In Spanish, the word tilde actually refers to diacritics in general, e.g. the acute accent in José,{{cite book |title=Ortografía de la lengua española |year=2010 |publisher=Real Academia Española |location=Madrid |isbn=978-84-670-3426-4 |page=279 }} while the diacritic in {{angle bracket|ñ}} is called "virgulilla" ({{IPA|es|birɣuˈliʝa|IPA}}) (yeísta) or ({{IPA|es|birɣuˈliʎa|IPA}}) (non-yeísta).{{Cite web |url=http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=virgulilla |title=Lema en la RAE |publisher=Real Academia Española |access-date=10 October 2015}} Current languages in which the tilded {{angle bracket|n}} ({{angle bracket|ñ}}) is used for the palatal nasal consonant {{IPA|/ɲ/}} include

{{div col|colwidth=8em}}

• Asturian
• Aymara
• Basque
• Chamorro
• Filipino
• Galician
• Guaraní
• Iñupiaq
• Mapudungun
• Papiamento
• Quechua
• Spanish
• Tetum
• Wolof

{{div col end}}

In Vietnamese, a tilde over a vowel represents a creaky rising tone (ngã). Letters with the tilde are not considered separate letters of the Vietnamese alphabet.

{{uncited section|date=June 2024}}

In phonetics, a tilde is used as a diacritic that is placed above a letter, below it or superimposed onto the middle of it:

• A tilde above a letter indicates nasalization, e.g. {{IPA|[ã], [ṽ]}}.
• A tilde superimposed onto the middle of a letter indicates velarization or pharyngealization, e.g. {{IPA|[ɫ], [z̴]}}. If no precomposed Unicode character exists, the Unicode character {{unichar|0334| COMBINING TILDE OVERLAY|cwith=◌}} can be used to generate one.
• A tilde below a letter indicates laryngealisation, e.g. {{IPA|[d̰]}}. If no precomposed Unicode character exists, the Unicode character {{unichar|0330| COMBINING TILDE BELOW|cwith=◌}} can be used to generate one.

A tilde between two phonemes indicates optionality, or "alternates with". E.g. {{angbr IPA|ɕ ~ ʃ}} could indicate that the sounds may alternate depending on context (free variation), or that they vary based on region or speaker, or some other variation.

In Estonian, the symbol {{angle bracket|õ}} stands for the close-mid back unrounded vowel, and it is considered an independent letter.

Some languages and alphabets use the tilde for other purposes, such as:

• Arabic script: A symbol resembling the tilde ({{unichar|0653|ARABIC MADDAH ABOVE|cwith=ـ|nlink=Arabic diacritics#Maddah}}) is used over the letter {{angle bracket|ا}} ({{IPA|/a/}}) to become {{angle bracket|آ}}, denoting a long {{IPA|/ʔaː/}} sound.
• Guaraní: The tilded {{angle bracket|G̃}} (note that {{angle bracket|G/g}} with tilde is not available as a precomposed glyph in Unicode) stands for the velar nasal consonant. Also, the tilded {{angle bracket|y}} ({{angle bracket|Ỹ}}) stands for the nasalized upper central rounded vowel {{IPA|[ɨ̃]}}. Munduruku, Parintintín, and two older spellings of Filipino words also use {{angle bracket|g̃}}.
• Syriac script: A tilde (~) under the letter Kaph represents a {{IPA|[t͡ʃ]}} sound, transliterated as ch or č.Nestle, Eberhard (1888). Syrische Grammatik mit Litteratur, Chrestomathie und Glossar. Berlin: H. Reuther's Verlagsbuchhandlung. [translated to English as Syriac grammar with bibliography, chrestomathy and glossary, by R. S. Kennedy. London: Williams & Norgate 1889. p. 5].
• Estonian and Võro use the tilde above the letter o (õ) to indicate the vowel {{IPA|[ɤ]}}, a rare sound among languages.
• Unicode has a combining vertical tilde character: {{unichar|033E|COMBINING VERTICAL TILDE|cwith=◌}}. It is used to indicate middle tone in linguistic transcription of certain dialects of the Lithuanian language,Lithuanian Standards Board (LST), [http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2597.pdf proposal for a zigzag diacritic] and was also used historically in the letter х̾, which was part of the Polish Cyrillic alphabet of the late 19th century.
• Resurrección María de Azkue's 1906 Basque dictionary used an idiosyncratic spelling including {{anglebracket|ã d̃ ẽ ĩ l̃ ñ õ s̃ t̃ ũ x̃}}.{{cite web |title=R. M. de Azkue: "Euskara-Gaztelania-Frantsesa Hiztegia" / "Diccionario Vasco-Español-Francés" online -Tutorial de uso |url=https://www.aurtenbai.eus/dok/Azkue-tutoriala_ES.pdf |publisher=Aurten Bai Fundazioa |access-date=12 February 2024 |page=6 |language=es |quote=El autor usaba fuentes propias para representar fenómenos propios de algunos de los dialectos del euskera. Estos son los caracteres especiales utilizados en el diccionario: ã d̃ ẽ ĩ l̃ ñ õ s̃ t̃ ũ x̃.}}

The tilde is used in various ways in punctuation, including:

In some languages (such as in French),{{cn|date=July 2024}} a tilde or a tilde-like wave dash (Unicode: {{unichar|301C|wave dash}}) may be used as a punctuation mark (instead of an unspaced hyphen, en dash or em dash) between two numbers, to indicate a range. Doing so avoids the risk of confusion with subtraction or a hyphenated number (such as a part number or model number). For example, "12~15" means "12 to 15", "~3" means "up to three", and "100~" means "100 and greater".{{cn|date=December 2023}} East Asian languages almost always use this convention, but it is sometimes done for clarity in some other languages as well. Chinese uses the wave dash and full-width em dash interchangeably for this purpose. In English, the tilde is often used to express ranges and model numbers in electronics, but rarely in formal grammar or in type-set documents, as a wavy dash preceding a number sometimes represents an approximation (see below).

The range tilde is used for various purposes in French, but only to denote ranges of numbers (e.g., {{lang|fr|« 21~32 degrés Celsius »}}" means "21 to 32 degrees Celsius"){{cn|date=May 2024}}

(The symbol {{unichar|2248}} (a double tilde) is also used in French, for example, {{lang|fr|« ≈400 mètres »}} means "approximately 400 meters"{{cn|date=May 2024}}.)

{{see also|Approximation}}

Before a number the tilde can mean 'approximately'; '~42' means 'approximately 42'.

{{Cite web | url = http://www.linfo.org/tilde.html | title = Tilde Definition | website=linfo.org | publisher = The Linux Information Project | date = 24 June 2005 | access-date= 27 January 2020}} When used with currency symbols that precede the number (national conventions differ), the tilde precedes the symbol, thus for example '~$10' means 'about ten dollars'.{{Cite web

|url=https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/116048/using-a-tilde-with-currency |title=Using a tilde with currency|website=Stackexchange}}{{better source|reason=Not a reliable source|date=February 2024}}

The symbols ≈ (almost equal to) and ≅ (approximately equal to) are among the other symbols used to express approximation.

{{further|Japanese punctuation#Wave dash}}

The {{Nihongo|wave dash|波ダッシュ|nami dasshu}} is used for various purposes in Japanese, including to denote ranges of numbers (e.g., 5〜10 means between 5 and 10) in place of dashes or brackets, and to indicate origin. The wave dash is also used to separate a title and a subtitle in the same line, as a colon is used in English.

When used in conversations via email or instant messenger it may be used as a sarcasm mark {{citation needed|date=January 2024}}.

The sign is used as a replacement for the {{transliteration|ja|chōon}}, katakana character, in Japanese, extending the final syllable.

WeChat users frequently replace final punctuations with tildes in messages. An analysis of such "innovative uses" of tildes found that final tildes are most used to make the message friendlier and polite. They make expressives more sincere and directives less abrupt. Less commonly, final tildes imply sounds, i.e. otomatopeas and sound extensions. This use is compared to sajiao ({{Lang-zh|s=撒娇}}), a child-like acting seen in East Asian cultures that are also vocalized by raising or extending tone.{{Cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=Huan |last2=Xia |first2=Dengshan |date=2023-09-01 |title=Digital tildes ("∼") may convey more: analyzing innovative uses of tildes in Chinese WeChat messages |journal=Language and Semiotic Studies |language=en |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=443–460 |doi=10.1515/lass-2023-0009 |issn=2751-7160|doi-access=free }}

A tilde in front of a single quantity can mean "approximately", "about"{{Cite web |title=All Elementary Mathematics – Mathematical symbols dictionary |url=http://www.bymath.com/symbols/symbols.html |publisher=Bymath |accessdate=2014-09-25 |archive-date=2 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502113549/http://www.bymath.com/symbols/symbols.html |url-status=dead }} or "of the same order of magnitude as."

In written mathematical logic, the tilde represents negation: "~p" means "not p", where "p" is a proposition. Modern use often replaces the tilde with the negation symbol (¬) for this purpose, to avoid confusion with equivalence relations.

In mathematics, the tilde operator (which can be represented by a tilde or the dedicated character {{unichar|223C|TILDE OPERATOR}}), sometimes called "twiddle", is often used to denote an equivalence relation between two objects. Thus "{{math|{{mvar|x}} ~ {{mvar|y}}}}" means "{{mvar|x}} is equivalent to {{mvar|y}}". It is a weaker statement than stating that {{mvar|x}} equals {{mvar|y}}. The expression "{{math|{{mvar|x}} ~ {{mvar |y}}}}" is sometimes read aloud as "{{mvar|x}} twiddles {{mvar|y}}", perhaps as an analogue to the verbal expression of "{{math |1={{mvar |x}} = {{mvar|y}}}}".{{Citation | last = Derbyshire | first = J | title = Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics | place = New York | publisher = Penguin | year = 2004 | url = http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Tilde.html}}.

The tilde can indicate approximate equality in a variety of ways. It can be used to denote the asymptotic equality of two functions. For example, {{math|{{mvar|f}} ({{mvar|x}}) ~ {{mvar |g}}({{mvar |x}})}} means that $\backslash lim\_\{x\; \backslash to\; \backslash infty\}\; \backslash frac\{f(x)\}\{g(x)\}\; =\; 1$.

A tilde is also used to indicate "approximately equal to" (e.g. 1.902 ~= 2). This usage probably developed as a typed alternative to the libra symbol used for the same purpose in written mathematics, which is an equal sign with the upper bar replaced by a bar with an upward hump, bump, or loop in the middle (︍︍♎︎) or, sometimes, a tilde (≃).{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}} The symbol "≈" is also used for this purpose.

In physics and astronomy, a tilde can be used between two expressions (e.g. {{math|{{mvar|h}} ~ 10⁻³⁴ J s}}) to state that the two are of the same order of magnitude.

In statistics and probability theory, the tilde means "is distributed as"; see random variable (e.g. {{math|X ~ B(n, p)}} for a binomial distribution).

A tilde can also be used to represent geometric similarity (e.g. {{math |∆{{mvar |ABC}} ~ ∆{{mvar|DEF}}}}, meaning triangle {{mvar|ABC}} is similar to {{mvar|DEF}}). A triple tilde (≋) is often used to show congruence, an equivalence relation in geometry.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

In graph theory, the tilde can be used to represent adjacency between vertices. The edge $(x,y)$ connects vertices $x$ and $y$ which can be said to be adjacent, and this adjacency can be denoted $x\; \backslash sim\; y$.

The symbol "$\backslash tilde\{f\}$" is pronounced as "eff tilde" or, informally, as "eff twiddle".{{cite web |url=http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Tilde.html |title = Tilde |publisher = Wolfram Research |access-date = 4 June 2018}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SY5fZIK63NMC&q=schlange+twiddle&pg=PA53 |title=Proceedings of the Analysis Conference, Singapore 1986 |publisher=Elsevier | year = 1988 | first1 =Stephen TL | last1 = Choy | first2 =Judith Packer | last2 = Jesudason | first3 = Peng Yee | last3 = Lee|isbn=9780080872612 }} This can be used to denote the Fourier transform of f, or a lift of f, and can have a variety of other meanings depending on the context.

A tilde placed below a letter in mathematics can represent a vector quantity (e.g. $(x\_1,\; x\_2,\; x\_3,\; \backslash ldots,\; x\_n)\; =\; \backslash underset\{^\backslash sim\}\{\backslash mathbf\; x\}$).

In statistics and probability theory, a tilde placed on top of a variable is sometimes used to represent the median of that variable; thus $\backslash tilde\{\backslash mathbf\; y\}$ would indicate the median of the variable $\backslash mathbf\; y$. A tilde over the letter n ($\backslash tilde\{n\}$) is sometimes used to indicate the harmonic mean.

In machine learning, a tilde may represent a candidate value for a cell state in GRUs or LSTM units. (e.g. c̃)

Often in physics, one can consider an equilibrium solution to an equation, and then a perturbation to that equilibrium. For the variables in the original equation (for instance $X$) a substitution $X\backslash to\; x+\backslash tilde\{x\}$ can be made, where $x$ is the equilibrium part and $\backslash tilde\{x\}$ is the perturbed part.

A tilde is also used in particle physics to denote the hypothetical supersymmetric partner. For example, an electron is referred to by the letter e, and its superpartner the selectron is written ẽ.

In multibody mechanics, the tilde operator maps three-dimensional vectors $\backslash boldsymbol\{\backslash omega\}\backslash in\backslash mathbb\{R\}^3$ to skew-symmetrical matrices (see {{cite journal |last1=Wallrapp |title=Standardization of flexible body modeling in multibody system codes, Part I: Definition of Standard Input Data |date=1994 |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=283–304 |doi=10.1080/08905459408905214 |journal=Mechanics of Structures and Machines}} or {{cite journal |last1=Valembois |first1=R. E. |last2=Fisette |first2=P. |last3=Samin |first3=J. C. |title=Comparison of Various Techniques for Modelling Flexible Beams in Multibody Dynamics |journal=Nonlinear Dynamics |date=1997 |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=367–397 |doi=10.1023/A:1008204330035|bibcode=1997NonDy..12..367V |s2cid=122487067 }}).

For relations involving preference, economists sometimes use the tilde to represent indifference between two or more bundles of goods. For example, to say that a consumer is indifferent between bundles x and y, an economist would write x ~ y.

It can approximate the sine wave symbol (∿, U+223F), which is used in electronics to indicate alternating current, in place of +, −, or ⎓ for direct current.

The tilde may indicate alternating allomorphs or morphological alternation, as in {{IPA|//ˈniː~ɛl+t//}} for kneel~knelt (the plus sign '+' indicates a morpheme boundary).Collinge (2002) An Encyclopedia of Language, §4.2.{{Cite book | last=Hayes | first=Bruce | author-link=Bruce Hayes (linguist) | title=Introductory Phonology | publisher=John Wiley & Sons | date=2011 | isbn=9781444360134 | pages=87–88 }}

The tilde may represent some sort of phonetic or phonemic variation between two sounds, which might be allophones or in free variation. For example, {{IPA|[χ ~ x]}} can represent "either {{IPA|[χ]}} or {{IPA|[x]}}".

In formal semantics, it is also used as a notation for the squiggle operator which plays a key role in many theories of focus.{{cite book |last=Buring |first=Daniel |date=2016 |title=Intonation and Meaning |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226269.003.0003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=36–41 |isbn=978-0-19-922627-6}}

In interlinear gloss, a tilde sets off an element added to a word by reduplication; were a hyphen or double hyphen used instead, confusion would arise because that element would be notated in the same way as an independent morpheme requiring an independent gloss.

Computer programmers use the tilde in various ways and sometimes call the symbol (as opposed to the diacritic) a squiggle, squiggly, swiggle, or twiddle. According to the Jargon File, other synonyms sometimes used in programming include not, approx, wiggle, enyay (after eñe) and (humorously) sqiggle {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|k|ɪ|ɡ|əl}}.{{Cite web |date=2012-01-05 |title=Jargon File 5.0.1 |url=http://cosman246.com/jargon.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827121341/http://cosman246.com/jargon.html |archive-date=2013-08-27}}

On Unix-like operating systems (including AIX, BSD, Linux and macOS), tilde normally indicates the current user's home directory. For example, if the current user's home directory is {{mono|/home/user}}, then the command {{mono|cd ~}} is equivalent to {{mono|cd /home/user}}, {{mono|cd $HOME}}, or {{mono|cd}}. This convention derives from the Lear-Siegler ADM-3A terminal in common use during the 1970s, which happened to have the tilde symbol and the word "Home" (for moving the cursor to the upper left) on the same key.{{cite book |last=Hogan |first=Brian |date=2019 |title=Small, Sharp Software Tools |publisher=Pragmatic Programmers |page=3 |isbn=978-1-68050-296-1 }} When prepended to a particular username, the tilde indicates that user's home directory (e.g., {{mono|~janedoe}} for the home directory of user {{mono|janedoe}}, such as {{mono|/home/janedoe}}).{{Citation | contribution = Tilde expansion | publisher = The GNU project | title = C Library Manual | access-date = 4 July 2010 | url = https://www.gnu.org/s/libc/manual/html_node/Tilde-Expansion.html}}.

Used in URLs on the World Wide Web, it often denotes a personal website on a Unix-based server. For example, {{mono|http://www.example.com/~johndoe/}} might be the personal website of John Doe. This mimics the Unix shell usage of the tilde. However, when accessed from the web, file access is usually directed to a subdirectory in the user's home directory, such as {{mono|/home/username/public_html}} or {{mono|/home/username/www}}.{{Citation | contribution = Module mod_userdir | publisher = The Apache foundation | title = HTTP Server Documentation | edition = version 2.0 | access-date = 4 July 2010 | url = http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_userdir.html}}.

In URLs, the characters {{mono|%7E}} (or {{mono|%7e}}) may substitute for a tilde if an input device lacks a tilde key.{{Ref RFC|3986|p=12}} Thus, {{mono|http://www.example.com/~johndoe/}} and {{mono|http://www.example.com/%7Ejohndoe/}} will behave in the same manner.

The tilde is used in the AWK programming language as part of the pattern match operators for regular expressions:{{cite web |title=The GNU Awk User's Guide |website=GNU Manuals Online |url=https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/manual/html_node/Regexp-Usage.html |publisher=Free Software Foundation, Inc. |access-date=2024-10-20 |at=3.1 How to Use Regular Expressions}}

• variable ~ /regex/ returns true if the variable is matched.
• variable !~ /regex/ returns false if the variable is matched.

The operators are also used in the SQL variant of the database PostgreSQL.{{cite web |title=PostgreSQL 17.0 Documentation |author=The PostgreSQL Global Development Group |date=2024-09-26 |url=https://www.postgresql.org/docs/17/index.html |access-date=2024-10-20 |at=[https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/functions-matching.html#FUNCTIONS-POSIX-REGEXP 9.7.3.{{nbsp}}POSIX Regular Expressions]}}

A variant of this, with the plain tilde replaced with =~, was adopted in Perl{{cite web |title=Perl expressions: operators, precedence, string literals |website=Perldoc Browser |url=https://perldoc.perl.org/5.40.0/perlop |access-date=2024-10-20 |at=[https://perldoc.perl.org/5.40.0/perlop#Binding-Operators Binding Operators]}}. Ruby also uses this variant without the negated operator.{{cite web |title=class Regexp |work=Documentation for Ruby 3.3 |url=https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/3.3/Regexp.html |access-date=2024-10-20}}

In APL{{cite web |title=APL2 Programming: Language Reference |publisher=IBM |url=https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/ZOKMYKOY |date=February 1994 |edition=2nd |access-date=2024-10-22}}{{rp|68}} and MATLAB,{{cite web |title=MATLAB Operators and Special Characters - MATLAB & Simulink |website=MathWorks |url=https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/matlab-operators-and-special-characters.html |access-date=2024-10-22}} tilde represents the monadic logical function NOT. and in APL it additionally represents the dyadic multiset function without (set difference).{{rp|258}}

In C the tilde character is used as bitwise NOT unary operator, following the notation in logic (an ! causes a logical NOT, instead).{{cite web |title=Programming languages — C |url=https://files.lhmouse.com/standards/ISO%20C%20N2176.pdf |author=ISO/IEC |access-date=2024-10-19 |page=64 }} This is also used by many languages based on or influenced by C, such as C++, C#, D, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, and Python.{{Cite web |title=syntax across languages (One Big Page) |url=https://rigaux.org/language-study/syntax-across-languages.html |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=rigaux.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240823220158/http://rigaux.org/language-study/syntax-across-languages.html |archive-date=2024-08-23}} The MySQL database also use tilde as bitwise invert{{Cite web|url=https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/bit-functions.html#operator_bitwise-invert|title=MySQL :: Reference Manual :: Bit Functions and Operators|website=dev.mysql.com|access-date=2019-12-20}} as does Microsoft's SQL Server Transact-SQL (T-SQL) language.

JavaScript also uses tilde as bitwise NOT. Because bitwise operators work on integers, and numbers in JavaScript are 64 bit floating point numbers, the operator converts numbers to a 32-bit signed integer before it performing the negation.{{Cite web |title=JavaScript Bitwise Operations |url=https://www.w3schools.com/js/js_bitwise.asp |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=W3Schools |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128173553/https://www.w3schools.com/js/js_bitwise.asp |archive-date=2024-11-28}} The conversion truncates the fractional part and most significant bits. This lets two tildes ~~x to be used as a short syntax to cast to integer. However, it is not recommended as use for truncation. In contrast, it does not truncate BigInts, which are arbitrarily large integers.{{Cite web |date=2023-08-15 |title=Bitwise NOT (~) - JavaScript |url=https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Bitwise_NOT |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=MDN |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128173342/https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Bitwise_NOT |archive-date=2024-11-28}}

In C++{{Cite web |date=2023-12-01 |title=Destructors (C++) |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/cpp/destructors-cpp?view=msvc-170 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Microsoft Learn |publisher=Microsoft |language=en-us |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128170724/https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/cpp/destructors-cpp?view=msvc-170 |archive-date=2024-11-28}} and C#,{{Cite web |date=2023-03-14 |title=Finalizers (C# Programming Guide) |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/classes-and-structs/finalizers |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Microsoft Learn |publisher=Microsoft |language=en-us |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241117135601/https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/classes-and-structs/finalizers |archive-date=2024-11-17}} the tilde is also used as the first character in a class's method name (where the rest of the name must be the same name as the class) to indicate a destructor – a special method which is called at the end of the object's life.

In ASP.NET applications, tilde ('~') is used as a shortcut to the root of the application's virtual directory.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-03 |title=ASP.NET Core built-in Tag Helpers |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/mvc/views/tag-helpers/built-in/?view=aspnetcore-9.0 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Microsoft Learn |publisher=Microsoft |language=en-us |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128180850/https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/mvc/views/tag-helpers/built-in/?view=aspnetcore-9.0 |archive-date=2024-11-28}}

In the CSS stylesheet language, the tilde finds the element selected by the right-hand side that shares the parent with an element selected by the left-hand side.{{Cite web |date=2022-11-11 |title=Selectors Level 4 |url=https://www.w3.org/TR/selectors-4/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241122212236/https://www.w3.org/TR/selectors-4/ |archive-date=2024-11-22 |access-date=2024-11-28 |publisher=CSS Working Group |at=[https://www.w3.org/TR/selectors-4/#general-sibling-combinators 15.4. Subsequent-sibling combinator (~)] |type=W3C Working Draft}}

In the D programming language, the tilde is used as bitwise not operator, concatenation operator such as those of arrays,{{Cite web |title=Expressions |url=https://dlang.org/spec/expression.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128204134/https://dlang.org/spec/expression.html |archive-date=2024-11-28 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=dlang.org}} and to indicate an object destructor.{{Cite web |title=Structs, Unions |url=https://dlang.org/spec/struct.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128210801/https://dlang.org/spec/struct.html |archive-date=2024-11-28 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=dlang.org}}{{Cite web |title=Classes |url=https://dlang.org/spec/class.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128210843/https://dlang.org/spec/class.html |archive-date=2024-11-28 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=dlang.org}} Tilde operator can be overloaded for user types,{{Cite web |title=Operator Overloading |url=https://dlang.org/spec/operatoroverloading.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128204128/https://dlang.org/spec/operatoroverloading.html |archive-date=2024-11-28 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=dlang.org}} and binary tilde operator is mostly used to merging two objects, or adding some objects to set of objects. It was introduced because plus operator can have different meaning in many situations. For example, "120" + "14" may produce "134" (addition of two numbers), "12014" (concatenation of strings), or something else.{{Cite web |title=Arrays |url=https://dlang.org/spec/arrays.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128204600/https://dlang.org/spec/arrays.html |archive-date=2024-11-28 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=dlang.org}} D disallows + operator for arrays (and strings), and provides separate operator for concatenation (similarly PHP programming language solved this problem by using dot operator for concatenation, and + for number addition, which will also work on strings containing numbers).

In Eiffel, the tilde is used for object comparison. If a and b denote objects, the Boolean expression a ~ b has value true if and only if these objects are equal, as defined by the applicable version of the library routine is_equal, which by default denotes field-by-field object equality but can be redefined in any class to support a specific notion of equality.{{Cite web |date=June 2006 |title=Eiffel: Analysis, Design and Programming Language |url=https://www.ecma-international.org/wp-content/uploads/ECMA-367_2nd_edition_june_2006.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128214008/https://www.ecma-international.org/wp-content/uploads/ECMA-367_2nd_edition_june_2006.pdf |archive-date=2024-11-28 |access-date=2024-11-28 |publisher=ECMA International |id=ECMA-367 |edition=2nd}}{{rp|114-115}} If a and b are references, the object equality expression a ~ b is to be contrasted with a = b which denotes reference equality. Unlike the call a.is_equal (b), the expression a ~ b is type-safe even in the presence of covariance.

In the Apache Groovy programming language the tilde character is used as an operator mapped to the bitwiseNegate() method.{{cite web|url=http://groovy.codehaus.org/Operator%20Overloading|title=The Groovy programming language – Operators}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Given a String the method will produce a java.util.regex.Pattern. Given an integer it will negate the integer bitwise like in C. =~ and ==~ can in Groovy be used to match a regular expression.{{Citation | url = http://groovy.codehaus.org/Regular+Expressions | title = Groovy Regular Expression User Guide | publisher = Code haus | access-date = 11 November 2010 | archive-date = 26 July 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100726062443/http://groovy.codehaus.org/Regular+Expressions | url-status = dead }}.{{Citation | url = http://groovy.codehaus.org/FAQ+-+RegExp | title = Groovy RegExp FAQ | publisher = Code haus | access-date = 11 November 2010 | archive-date = 11 July 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100711164313/http://groovy.codehaus.org/FAQ+-+RegExp | url-status = dead }}.

In Haskell, the tilde is used in type constraints to indicate type equality.{{Citation | url = http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/GHC/Type_families#Equality_constraints | title = Haskell Wiki | contribution = Type Families}}. Also, in pattern-matching, the tilde is used to indicate a lazy pattern match.{{cite web|url=http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Lazy_pattern_match|title=Lazy pattern match}}

In the Inform 6 programming language, the tilde is used to indicate a quotation mark inside a quoted string. Tilde itself is created by @@126.

{{Cite book |last=Nelson |first=Graham |date=July 2001 |contribution=§1 Routines |contribution-url=https://www.inform-fiction.org/manual/html/s1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240607185340/https://www.inform-fiction.org/manual/html/s1.html |archive-date=2024-06-07 |access-date=2024-11-28 |title=The Inform Designer's Manual |publisher=Interactive Fiction Library |isbn=0-9713119-0-0 |edition=4th}}

In "text mode" of the LaTeX typesetting language a tilde diacritic can be obtained using, e.g., \~{n}, yielding "ñ". A stand-alone tilde can be obtained by using \textasciitilde or \string~.

In "math mode" a tilde diacritic can be written as, e.g., \tilde{x}. For a wider tilde \widetilde can be used. The \sim command produce a tilde-like binary relation symbol that is often used in mathematical expressions, and the double-tilde ≈ is obtained with \approx.In both text and math mode, a tilde on its own (~) renders a white space with no line breaking.In both text and math mode, a tilde on its own (~) renders a white space with no line breaking.{{cite web |last=Doob| first=Michael|date=Jan 21, 2002 |title=A Gentle Introduction to TeX |url=https://texdoc.org/serve/gentle.pdf/0 |website=texdoc.org | page=11,12,15,32,36,37|location=Winnipeg, Manitoba |access-date=Apr 6, 2025}} The url package also supports entering tildes directly, e.g., \url{http://server/~name}.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

.

In MediaWiki syntax, four tildes are a shortcut for a user's signature. Three and five tildes puts the signature without timestamp and only the timestamp, respectively.{{Cite web |title=Help:Signatures |url=https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Signatures&oldid=6657175 |date=20 July 2024 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=MediaWiki |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128225211/https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Signatures&oldid=6657175 |archive-date=2024-11-28}}

In Common Lisp, the tilde is used as the prefix for format specifiers in format strings.{{cite web|url=http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Body/22_c.htm |title=CLHS: Section 22.3 |publisher=Lispworks.com |date=2005-04-11 |access-date=2010-07-30}}

In Max/MSP, MSP objects have names ending with a tilde. MSP objects process at the computer's sampling rate and mainly deal with sound.{{Cite web |author=Cycling '74 |title=MSP Basics Tutorial 1: Test Tone |url=https://docs.cycling74.com/learn/articles/05_mspbasicchapter01/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241206215808/https://docs.cycling74.com/learn/articles/05_mspbasicchapter01/ |archive-date=2024-12-06 |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=Cycling '74 Documentation |language=en}}

In Standard ML, the tilde is used as the prefix for negative numbers and as the unary negation operator.{{Cite web |last=Fisher |first=Kathleen |title=Learning Standard ML |url=https://www.cs.tufts.edu/comp/105-2017f/readings/ml.html |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=www.cs.tufts.edu |at=[https://www.cs.tufts.edu/comp/105-2017f/readings/ml.html#expressions-ii-minus-signs Expressions II: Minus signs]}}

In OCaml, the tilde is used to specify the label for a labeled parameter.{{Cite web |title=Labelled and Optional Arguments |url=https://ocaml.org/docs/labels |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241206214050/https://ocaml.org/docs/labels |archive-date=2024-12-06 |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=OCaml |language=en}}

In R, the tilde operator is used to separate the left- and right-hand sides in a model formula.[https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/fullrefman.pdf The R Reference Index ]

In Object REXX, the twiddle is used as a "message send" symbol. For example, Employee.name~lower() would cause the lower() method to act on the object Employee's name attribute, returning the result of the operation. ~~ returns the object that received the method rather than the result produced. Thus, it can be used when the result need not be returned or when cascading methods are to be used. team~~insert("Jane")~~insert("Joe")~~insert("Steve") would send multiple concurrent insert messages, thus invoking the insert method three consecutive times on the team object.{{Cite web |last1=Ashley |first1=W. David |last2=Flatscher |first2=Rony G. |last3=Hessling |first3=Mark |last4=McGuire |first4=Rick |last5=Miesfeld |first5=Mark |last6=Peedin |first6=Lee |last7=Tammer |first7=Rainer |last8=Wolfers |first8=Jon |date=August 14, 2009 |title=Terms, Expressions, and Operators |url=https://www.oorexx.org/docs/rexxref/x974.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116122945/https://www.oorexx.org/docs/rexxref/x974.htm |archive-date=2021-01-16 |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=Open Object Rexx™: Reference |series=Version 4.0.0 Edition}}

In Raku, a prefixing tilde converts a value to a string. An infix tilde concatenates strings,{{Cite web |date=2024-09-13 |title=Operators |url=https://docs.raku.org/language/operators |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130145259/https://docs.raku.org/language/operators |archive-date=2024-11-30 |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=Raku documentation}} taking place of the dot operator in Perl, as the dot is used for member access instead of {{code|->}}.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-01 |title=Perl to Raku guide - in a nutshell |url=https://docs.raku.org/language/operators |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203160657/https://docs.raku.org/language/5to6-nutshell |archive-date=2024-12-03 |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=Raku documentation}} {{code|~~}} is called "the smartmatch operator" and its semantics depend on the type of the right-side argument. Namely, it checks numeric and string equalities, performs regular expression match tests (as opposed to {{code|{{=}}~}} in Perl), and type checking.

my $concatResult = "Hello " ~ "world!";

$concatResult ~~ /<|w><[A..Z]><[a..z]>*<|w>/;

say $/; # outputs "Hello"

1. the $/ variable holds the last regex match result

In YAML, the "Core schema," a set of aliases that processors are recommended to use, resolves a tilde as null.{{Cite web |date=2021-10-01 |title=YAML Ain't Markup Language (YAML™) revision 1.2.2 |url=https://yaml.org/spec/1.2.2/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241124004709/https://yaml.org/spec/1.2.2/ |archive-date=2024-11-24 |access-date=2024-11-28 |at=10.3.2. Tag Resolution}}

{{See also|QWERTY#Multilingual variants}}

The presence (or absence) of a tilde engraved on the keyboard depends on the territory where it was sold. In either case, computer's system settings determine the keyboard mapping and the default setting will match the engravings on the keys. Even so, it certainly possible to configure a keyboard for a different locale than that supplied by the retailer. On American and British keyboards, the tilde is a standard keytop and pressing it produces a free-standing "ASCII Tilde". To generate a letter with a tilde diacritic requires the US international or UK extended keyboard setting.

• With US-international, the {{key press|~}} key is a dead key: pressing that key and then a letter produces the tilde-accented form of that letter. (For example, {{key press|~}}{{nbsp}}{{key press|a}} produces {{char|ã}}.) With this setting active, an ASCII tilde can be inserted with the dead key followed by the space bar, or alternatively by striking the dead key twice in a row.
• With UK-extended, the key works normally but becomes a 'dead key' when combined with AltGr. Thus {{key press|AltGr|#}} followed by a letter produces the accented form of that letter.
• With a Mac either of the Alt/Option keys function similarly.
• With Linux, the compose key facility is used.

Instructions for other national languages and keyboards are beyond the scope of this article.

The dominant Unix convention for naming backup copies of files is appending a tilde to the original file name. It originated with the Emacs text editor{{cite web |title=GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual |url=https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Backup-Names.html |publisher=Free Software Foundation, Inc. |access-date=2024-12-06 |at=27.1.4 Naming Backup Files - [https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Backup-Names.html#index-make_002dbackup_002dfile_002dname Function: make-backup-file-name filename]}} and was adopted by many other editors and some command-line tools.

Emacs also introduced an elaborate numbered backup scheme, with files named {{mono|filename.~1~}}, {{mono|filename.~2~}} and so on.{{cite web |title=GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual |url=https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Numbered-Backups.html |publisher=Free Software Foundation, Inc. |access-date=2024-12-06 |at=27.1.3 Making and Deleting Numbered Backup Files}} It didn't catch on, as the rise of version control software eliminates the need for this usage.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

The tilde was part of Microsoft's filename mangling scheme when it extended the FAT file system standard to support long filenames for Microsoft Windows. Programs written prior to this development could only access filenames in the so-called 8.3 format—the filenames consisted of a maximum of eight characters from a restricted character set (e.g. no spaces), followed by a period, followed by three more characters. In order to permit these legacy programs to access files in the FAT file system, each file had to be given two names—one long, more descriptive one, and one that conformed to the 8.3 format. This was accomplished with a name-mangling scheme in which the first six characters of the filename are followed by a tilde and a digit. For example, "{{mono|Program Files}}" might become "{{mono|PROGRA~1}}".{{cite web |title=How Windows Generates 8.3 File Names from Long File Names |url=https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php?title=Microsoft_KB_Archive/142982 |publisher=Microsoft}}

The tilde symbol is also often used to prefix hidden temporary files that are created when a document is opened in Windows.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024|reason="Often" qualification should be cited}} For example, when a document "Document1.doc" is opened in Word, a file called "~$cument1.doc" is created in the same directory. This file contains information about which user has the file open, to prevent multiple users from attempting to change a document at the same time.{{Cite web |title=Description of how Word creates temporary files |url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/description-of-how-word-creates-temporary-files-66b112fb-d2c0-8f40-a0be-70a367cc4c85 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240919095253/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/description-of-how-word-creates-temporary-files-66b112fb-d2c0-8f40-a0be-70a367cc4c85 |archive-date=2024-09-19 |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=Microsoft Support}}

In the juggling notation system Beatmap, tilde can be added to either "hand" in a pair of fields to say "cross the arms with this hand on top". Mills' Mess is thus represented as (~2x,1)(1,2x)(2x,~1)*.{{cite web | url=http://www.jugglingdb.com/help/?id=125 | title=The Internet Juggling Database | archive-date=28 July 2005 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050728104414/http://www.jugglingdb.com/help/?id=125 | access-date=6 November 2009}}

Unicode encodes a number of cases of "letter with tilde" as precomposed characters and these are displayed below. In addition, many more symbols may be composed using the combining character facility ({{unichar|0303|Combining tilde|cwith=◌|nlink=combining character}}, {{unichar|0330|Combining tilde below|cwith=◌|nlink=combining character}} and others) that may be used with any letter or other diacritic to create a customised symbol but this does not mean that the result has any real-world application and are not shown in the table.

{{Letters with diacritic/header}}{{hlist|{{Letters with diacritic/diacritic|format=char|d=tilde}}{{Letters with diacritic/scriptname|1=Latin}}Ã{{NNBSP}}ã

| Ẵ{{NNBSP}}ẵ

| Ẫ{{NNBSP}}ẫ

| ᵬ

| ᵭ

| Ẽ{{NNBSP}}ẽ

| Ễ{{NNBSP}}ễ

| Ḛ{{NNBSP}}ḛ

| ᵮ

| Ĩ{{NNBSP}}ĩ

| Ḭ{{NNBSP}}ḭ

| ɫ

| ᵯ

| Ñ{{NNBSP}}ñ

| ᵰ

| Õ{{NNBSP}}õ

| Ỗ{{NNBSP}}ỗ

| Ỡ{{NNBSP}}ỡ

| Ṍ{{NNBSP}}ṍ

| Ṏ{{NNBSP}}ṏ

| Ȭ{{NNBSP}}ȭ

| ᵱ

| ᵳ

| ᵲ

| ꭨ

| ᵴ

| ᵵ

| Ũ{{NNBSP}}ũ

| Ữ{{NNBSP}}ữ

| Ṹ{{NNBSP}}ṹ

| Ṵ{{NNBSP}}ṵ

| Ṽ{{NNBSP}}ṽ

| Ỹ{{NNBSP}}ỹ

| ᵶ

}}

{{Letters with diacritic/footer}}

A tilde diacritic can be added to almost any character by using a combining tilde. Greek and Cyrillic letters with tilde (Α͂{{NNBSP}}ᾶ, Η͂{{NNBSP}}ῆ, Ι͂{{NNBSP}}ῖ, ῗ, Υ͂{{NNBSP}}ῦ, ῧ and А̃{{NNBSP}}а̃, Ә̃ ә̃, Е̃{{NNBSP}}е̃, И̃{{NNBSP}}и̃, О̃{{NNBSP}}о̃, У̃{{NNBSP}}у̃, Ј̃{{NNBSP}}j̃) are formed using this method.

{{multiple image

| align = right

| image1 = Wave Dash.svg

| width1 = 100

| alt1 = Correct JIS wave dash

| caption1 = Correct JIS wave dash, current in Unicode

| image2 = Wave Dash2.svg

| width2 = 100

| alt2 = Previous Unicode wave dash (incorrect)

| caption2 = Previous Unicode wave dash (incorrect)

| footer =

}}

In practice the {{Nihongo|full-width tilde|全角チルダ|zenkaku chiruda}} (Unicode {{unichar|FF5E|fullwidth tilde}}), is often used instead of the {{Nihongo|wave dash|波ダッシュ|nami dasshu}} (Unicode {{unichar|301C|wave dash}}), because the Shift JIS code for the wave dash, 0x8160, which should be mapped to U+301C,{{Citation | chapter-url = http://x0213.org/codetable/sjis-0213-2004-std.txt | title = JIS X 0213:2004 | chapter = Appendix 1: Shift_JIS-2004 vs Unicode mapping table | publisher = X 0213}}.{{Citation | url = https://www.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/OBSOLETE/EASTASIA/JIS/SHIFTJIS.TXT | title = Shift-JIS to Unicode | publisher = Unicode}}. is instead mapped to U+FF5E{{cite web|url=http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/reference/dbcs/932/932_81.htm |title=Windows 932_81 |publisher=Microsoft | access-date=2010-07-30}} in Windows code page 932 (Microsoft's code page for Japanese), a widely used extension of Shift JIS.

This decision avoided a shape definition error in the original (6.2) Unicode code charts:{{Citation |url=http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U3000.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827100409if_/http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U3000.pdf |archive-date=2013-08-27 | title = CJK Symbols and Punctuation (Unicode 6.2) | type = chart | publisher = Unicode}}. the wave dash reference glyph in JIS / Shift JIS{{cite iso-ir |number=87 |title=Japanese Graphic Character Set for Information Interchange |id-in-title=yes |sponsor=Japanese National Committee on ISO/TC97/SC2}}{{cite iso-ir | number = 233 | title = Japanese Graphic Character Set for Information Interchange, Plane 1 (Update of ISO-IR 228)| id-in-title = yes | sponsor = Japanese Industrial Standards Committee | sponsor-link = Japanese Industrial Standards Committee}} matches the Unicode reference glyph for U+FF5E {{resize|FULLWIDTH TILDE}},{{Citation | url = https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UFF00.pdf | title = Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms | type = chart | publisher = Unicode}}. while the original reference glyph for U+301C was reflected, incorrectly,{{citation|url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode8.0.0/erratafixed.html|title=Errata Fixed in Unicode 8.0.0|publisher=Unicode}} when Unicode imported the JIS wave dash. In other platforms such as the classic Mac OS and macOS, 0x8160 is correctly mapped to U+301C. It is generally difficult, if not impossible, for users of Japanese Windows to type U+301C, especially in legacy, non-Unicode applications.

A similar situation exists regarding the Korean KS X 1001 character set, in which Microsoft maps the EUC-KR or UHC code for the wave dash (0xA1AD) to {{unichar|223C|Tilde Operator}},{{cite web|url=https://icu4c-demos.unicode.org/icu-bin/convexp?conv=windows-949-2000&b=A1&s=ALL#layout|title=windows-949-2000 (lead byte A1)|work=ICU Demonstration – Converter Explorer|publisher=International Components for Unicode}}{{cite web|url=https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc194958.aspx|title=Lead Byte A1-A2 (Code page 949)|work=MSDN|date=6 February 2008 |publisher=Microsoft}} while IBM and Apple map it to U+301C.{{cite web|url=https://icu4c-demos.unicode.org/icu-bin/convexp?conv=ibm-1363_P110-1997&b=A1&s=ALL#layout|title=ibm-1363_P110-1997 (lead byte A1)|work=ICU Demonstration – Converter Explorer|publisher=International Components for Unicode}}{{cite web|url=https://icu4c-demos.unicode.org/icu-bin/convexp?conv=euc-kr&b=A1&s=ALL#layout|title=euc-kr (lead byte A1)|work=ICU Demonstration – Converter Explorer|publisher=International Components for Unicode}}{{cite web|url=https://unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/APPLE/KOREAN.TXT|title=Map (external version) from Mac OS Korean encoding to Unicode 3.2 and later.|publisher=Apple}} Microsoft also uses U+FF5E to map the KS X 1001 raised tilde (0xA2A6), while Apple uses {{unichar|02DC|small tilde}}.

The current Unicode reference glyph for U+301C has been corrected to match the JIS standard{{Citation | url = https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U3000.pdf | title = CJK Symbols and Punctuation | type = chart | publisher = Unicode}} in response to a 2014 proposal, which noted that while the existing Unicode reference glyph had been matched by fonts from the discontinued Windows XP, all other major platforms including later versions of Microsoft Windows shipped with fonts matching the JIS reference glyph for U+301C.{{Citation | url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2014/14198-wave-dash.pdf | title=L2/14-198: Proposal for the modification of the sample character layout of WAVE_DASH (U+301C) | last=Komatsu | first=Hiroyuki}}

The JIS / Shift JIS wave dash is still formally mapped to U+301C as of JIS X 0213,{{Citation | url=http://x0213.org/codetable/sjis-0213-2004-std.txt | title=Shift_JIS-2004 (JIS X 0213:2004 Appendix 1) vs Unicode mapping table | publisher=x0213.org}} whereas the WHATWG Encoding Standard used by HTML5 follows Microsoft in mapping 0x8160 to U+FF5E.{{citation | url=https://encoding.spec.whatwg.org/shift_jis.html | title=Shift_JIS visualization | work=Encoding Standard | publisher=WHATWG}} These two code points have a similar or identical glyph in several computer fonts, reducing the confusion and incompatibility.

• {{Annotated link |Circumflex}}
• {{Annotated link |Caret (computing)}}
• {{Annotated link |Tittle}}
• {{Annotated link |Double tilde (disambiguation)}}
• {{Annotated link |Backtick}}
• {{Annotated link |Wave dash}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{for|signing your comments on Wikipedia|Wikipedia:Signatures|selfref=y}}

{{Latin script||tilde}}

{{Common logical symbols}}

{{navbox punctuation}}

Category:Latin-script diacritics

Category:Punctuation

Category:Typographical symbols

Category:Greek-script diacritics

Category:Logic symbols

Category:Mathematical symbols

*