Unsupported titles/Square brackets

[ U+005B, [ LEFT SQUARE BRACKET ← Z [U+005A] Basic Latin \ → [U+005C]

] U+005D, ] RIGHT SQUARE BRACKET ← \ [U+005C] Basic Latin ^ → [U+005E]

See also: ◌᫅

Translingual

Punctuation mark

[ ] (English name square brackets)

1. Encloses parenthetical information within parentheses ⟨( )⟩.
   • 1915, Friedrich Loofs, “Macedonianism”, in edited by James Hastings, John A[lexander] Selbie, and Louis H[erbert] Gray, Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, volume VIII (Life and Death–Mulla) (in English), Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, […]; New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, […], page 225, column 2:

     The leading doctrine of the Macedonians is found in the thesis characterized by their opponents as ‘Pneumatomachian,’ viz. that the Holy Spirit is not to be designated Θεός (frag. 32, lines 1–8, Dial. c. Maced. i. 1 [p. 1292 A]; frag. 29, Did. de Trin. iii. xxxvi. [p. 965 B]).

   • 1924, The Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, volume 19 (in English), page 241:

     The diorite torso of a hunter holds almost the same attitude, except that he poises his spear low, as if striking (H. 23⅜ in. [59.3 cm.]).

   • 1987, Jaan Puhvel, “Celtic Myth”, in Comparative Mythology (in English), Baltimore, Md., London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, published 1988 (2nd printing), →ISBN, part II (Traditions), page 185:

     Like Achilles, he alacritously chose a short life of fame and in short order developed into a full-blown berserk, complete with contortions (riastrad: eye trick, mouth stretched from ear to ear, hair standing on end as if by static electricity, magic halo [lūan lāith ‘warrior’s moon’] over his head), but also subject to the multiple geis or tabu that shadows the Irish hero.

   • 1996, Michael Toolan, “Metaphor”, in Total Speech: An Integrational Linguistic Approach to Language (Post-Contemporary Interventions) (in English), Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 64:

     It might be better thought of as the removal of the routinely assumed footing (to use Goffman’s phrase [Goffman 1981]), […] a similar transformation of the footing must often be identified (for recent interesting discussion of “footing” and the complexity of participant roles in discourse, see Levinson [1988]). […] One influential paper on metaphor concludes by suggesting that most metaphor works “by reference to analogies that are known to relate the two domains” (Rumelhart 1979: 89).

   • 2011, John Knight, “[Working with Monkeys] Knowing the Monkeys”, in Herding Monkeys to Paradise: How Macaque Troops are Managed for Tourism in Japan (Human-Animal Studies; 10) (in English), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 267:

     Ishii also shared chikuwa (fish sausage) and boiled egg from his bentō lunch-box with the monkeys (he told me that the monkeys even eat tsukemono pickles and umeboshi [pickled plums]).

   • 2021 September 6, “Brackets and parentheses”, in Australian Government Style Manual‎ (in English), archived from the original on 2021-09-20:

     Don’t use sets of parentheses inside each other. Instead, use square brackets if you must put parenthetical information within parentheses.
     Like this
     Australia’s Parliament House (architects Mitchell/Giurgola & Thorp [New York]) opened on 9 May 1988.

2. Encloses alterations in quoted text.
   • 2007 April 6, Alison, quotee, Atari Online News Etc., volume 9, number 14 (in English), pages [4]:

     Talk about sloooooowww. It’s like 5-minutes odd to boot up on a brand new laptop with so much anti-virus [poop] and gizmo [poop] on it.

   1. Encloses text added as an explanation.

      [Luke,] I am your father.

   2. Encloses orthographical alterations.

      He said, "[d]on't do it!"

   3. (papyrology, epigraphy) Encloses restored writing that was present in the original text but has since become damaged or broken away.

      Synonym: ‹ ›

   4. (textual criticism, palaeography) Denotes a text deemed interpolated.
   5. See [...] for omissions in quoted text.
3. Encloses narration.

   Synonym: ( )

   1. Encloses nonverbal sounds or responses in transcribed speech.

      I wouldn't know! [Laughs.] (in Translingual)

      • 2024 May 10, Justin Moran, quoting Isaac Dunbar, “Isaac Dunbar and Kerri Colby Were Built for This”, in Paper‎ (in English):

        I would describe him as an A&R of pop culture. He's a really multidimensional person that has so much to offer. He knows so many people, he loves art and he was a very huge moving factor in us meeting. Thank you, Thom [Muah].

4. Encloses a number starting an item in a list.

   Synonym: ( )

   • 1954 February 15, Henry E. Michelson, “The Syndrome of Lupus Erythematosus”, in Modern Medicine, volume 22, number 4 (in English), Minneapolis, Minn.: Modern Medicine Publications, Inc., page 96:

     Two distinct types of lupus erythematosus are recognized: [1] chronic or discoid, which is essentially a skin lesion, and [2] severe systemic, designated as acute.

5. Encloses placeholder text in a form etc. intended to be replaced by the user.

   I, [your name], hereby declare that the information provided is correct. (in Translingual)

   • 2024 September 12, Sam Damshenas, “‘A new direction for the franchise’: Drag Race UK stars on “mind-blowing” season 6”, in Gay Times‎ (in English):

     With her dance background, expect her to flip, kick, split and [insert name of other gravity-defying drag tricks here] on the stage, but she’s also been known to chuck in a tribute to Charity Shop Sue every now and then.

6. (linguistics) Encloses phonetic transcription.

   Coordinate terms: / /, ⟨ ⟩, ⫽ ⫽, | |, ‖ ‖, { }, ! !, \ \, ⸢ ⸣

7. (grammar) Encloses an ellipsis in phonology or grammar.
8. (computing, programming) Encloses optional parameters in syntax help.

   DROP TABLE tbl_name [, tbl_name] ...

Derived terms

• [...] (used when omitting a section in quoted text)

Symbol

[ ]

1. (mathematics) Encloses a mathematical phrase which has increased operator precedence.

   ${\displaystyle 4/(2x+{\textbf {[7+9]}})}$

2. (mathematics) Encloses a polynomial ring.

   ${\displaystyle \mathbb {C} \cong \mathbb {R} \left[x\right]/\left(x^{2}+1\right)}$

3. (mathematics) An alternating bilinear function satisfying the Jacobi identity; typically in the context of and as the operation of a Lie algebra, thus referred to as Lie bracket.

   ${\displaystyle [\cdot ,\cdot ]:V\otimes V\rightarrow V}$

4. (mathematics) Encloses a matrix or vector.

   Synonym: ( )

   ${\displaystyle {\begin{bmatrix}1&9&-13\\20&5&-6\end{bmatrix}}}$

5. (mathematics) Singles out a digit or portion of an equation, for commentary.
   • 1962, Jack Frohlichstein, Mathematical Fun, Games and Puzzles (in English), Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 47:

     ${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}72\\{\underline {\ \times 11}}\\7\left[9\right]2\\\end{aligned}}}$

     ${\displaystyle {\text{(7 + 2 = 9 from top factor)}}}$

6. (mathematics) Denotes the least common multiple of two integers.

   [4,6]=12

7. (mathematics) Alternative form of ⌊ ⌋
8. (programming) In a number of programming languages, used as the array index operator, the subscript operator.

   t[1] = "one"

   t[2] = "two"

9. (regular expressions) Matches a single character that is contained within the brackets, including ranges.

   [a-ce] matches "a", "b", "c", or "e"

Related terms

• (mathematical precedence) ( ), { }

See also

• Bracket on Wikipedia.Wikipedia