|
EOF: /E·O·F/, n. [abbreviation, ‘End Of File’] 1. [techspeak] The out-of-band value returned
by C's sequential character-input functions (and their equivalents in other
environments) when end of file has been reached. This value is usually
-1 under C libraries postdating V6 Unix, but was
originally 0. DOS hackers think EOF is ^Z, and a few
Amiga hackers think it's ^\. 2. [Unix] The keyboard character (usually control-D, the ASCII EOT
(End Of Transmission) character) that is mapped by the terminal driver into
an end-of-file condition. 3. Used by extension in non-computer contexts when a human is doing
something that can be modeled as a sequential read and can't go further.
“Yeah, I looked for a list of 360 mnemonics to post as a joke, but I
hit EOF pretty fast; all the library had was a JCL
manual.” See also EOL.
| 
