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The dollar sign, also known as peso sign, is a symbol consisting of a capital " S" crossed with one or two vertical strokes ($ or ), used to indicate the unit of various
currencies A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...
around the world, including most currencies denominated "
peso The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...
" and "
dollar Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, ...
". The explicitly double-barred sign is called cifrão. The sign is also used in several compound currency symbols, such as the
Brazilian real The Brazilian real ( pl. '; sign: R$; code: BRL) is the official currency of Brazil. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. The Central Bank of Brazil is the central bank and the issuing authority. The real replaced the cruzeiro real in 1994 ...
(R$) and the Nicaraguan córdoba (C$). The one- and two-stroke version are often considered mere stylistic (
typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands o ...
) variants, although in some places and epochs one of them may have been specifically assigned, by law or custom, to a specific currency. The
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, wh ...
computer encoding standard defines a single code for both. In most
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
-speaking countries that use that symbol, it is placed to the left of the amount specified, e.g. "$1", read as "one dollar".


History


Use for the Spanish American peso in the late 1700s

The symbol appears in business correspondence in the 1770s from Spanish America, the early independent U.S., British America and Britain, referring to the Spanish American peso, also known as "
Spanish dollar The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight ( es, Real de a ocho, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content ...
" or "piece of eight" in British America. Those coins provided the model for the currency that the United States adopted in 1792, and for the larger coins of the new Spanish American republics, such as the Mexican peso,
Argentine peso The peso (established as the ''peso convertible'') is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using peso or dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 ''centavos''. Its ISO 4 ...
, Peruvian real, and
Bolivian sol The sol was the currency of Bolivia between 1827 and 1864. There were no subdivisions of the sol but 16 soles were equal to 1 scudo. The sol replaced the Spanish colonial real The silver real ( es, real de plata) was the currency of the Span ...
coins. With the
Coinage Act of 1792 The Coinage Act of 1792 (also known as the Mint Act; officially: ''An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States''), passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, created the United States dollar as the countr ...
, the United States Congress created the U.S. dollar, defining it to have "the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current" but a variety of foreign coins were deemed to be
legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in ...
until the
Coinage Act of 1857 The Coinage Act of 1857 (Act of Feb. 21, 1857, Chap. 56, 34th Cong., Sess. III, 11 Stat. 163) was an act of the United States Congress which ended the status of foreign coins as legal tender, repealing all acts "authorizing the currency of foreig ...
ended this status. The earliest U.S. dollar coins did not have any dollar symbol. The first occurrence in print is claimed to be from 1790s, by a Philadelphia printer Archibald Binny, creator of the Monticello typeface.Hephzibah Anderson (2019):
The curious origins of the dollar symbol
. Online article at the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
website, dated 29 May 2019. Accessed on 2021-08-12. The $1
United States Note A United States Note, also known as a Legal Tender Note, is a type of paper money that was issued from 1862 to 1971 in the U.S. Having been current for 109 years, they were issued for longer than any other form of U.S. paper money. They were k ...
issued by the United States in 1869 included a large symbol consisting of a "U" with the right bar overlapping an "S" like a single-bar dollar sign, as well as a very small double-stroke dollar sign in the legal warning against forgery.


Earlier history of the symbol

It is still uncertain, however, how the dollar sign came to represent the Spanish American peso. There are currently several competing hypotheses: * One theory holds that the sign grew out of the Spanish and Spanish American
scribal abbreviation Scribal abbreviations or sigla (singular: siglum) are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mechanica ...
"ps" for pesos. A study of late 18th- and early 19th-century
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...
s shows that the ''s'' gradually came to be written over the ''p'', developing into a close equivalent to the "$" mark. However, there are documents showing the common use of the two-stroke version in Portugal already by 1775. * Another hypothesis derives the sign from a depiction of the
Pillars of Hercules The Pillars of Hercules ( la, Columnae Herculis, grc, Ἡράκλειαι Στῆλαι, , ar, أعمدة هرقل, Aʿmidat Hiraql, es, Columnas de Hércules) was the phrase that was applied in Antiquity to the promontories that flank t ...
, a classical symbol for two sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, with a ribbon wrapped around both each pillar (or both pillars) in the form of an "S". This device is common support element of the
Spanish coat of arms The coat of arms of Spain represents Spain and the Spanish nation, including its national sovereignty and the country's form of government, a constitutional monarchy. It appears on the flag of Spain and it is used by the Government of Spain, the C ...
, and appeared on the most common ''real de ocho'' coins circulating at the time in the Americas and Europe; namely, those minted at the Potosí mint in Bolivia, which operated from 1573 to 1825. Indeed, one of the names used for Spanish dollars in
Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
China was .Ulrich Theobald (2016):
Qing Period Money: Foreign Silver 'Dollars'
. Online article in the website ''ChinaKnowledge.de - An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art'', dated Apr 13, 2016. Accessed on 2021-08-14. * A variant of the above theory claims that the sign comes from the
mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...
of the mint at Potosí, where a large portion of the Spanish Empire's silver was mined, also featured on those coin, which consisted of the letters "P T S I" superimposed. The core of this monogram is a (single-stroked) "$" sign.Sandra Choron and Harry Choron (2011):
Money Everything You Never Knew About Your Favorite Thing to Find, Save, Spend & Covet
'. Chronicle Books LLC 336 pages. * Yet another hypothesis notes that the English word "dollar" for the Spanish piece of eight originally came (through
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
''daalder'') from Joachimsthaler or thaler, a similar large German silver coin which was widely used in Europe. It is therefore conjectured that the dollar sign derived from a symbol consisting of a superimposing S and I or J that was used to denote the German silver coin. Such symbol appears in the 1686 edition of ''An Introduction to Merchants' Accounts'' by John Collins. Alternatively, the symbol could have come from a snake and cross emblem on the thaler coins.


Less likely theories

The following theories seem to have been discredited or contradicted by documentary evidence: * Some historians have attributed the symbol to
Oliver Pollock Oliver Pollock (1737, Bready, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland – December 17, 1823, Pinckneyville, Mississippi) was a merchant and financier of the American Revolutionary War, of which he has long been considered a historically undervalued fig ...
, a wealthy
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
trader and early supporter of the American Revolution, who used the abbreviation "ps", sometimes run together, in a letter dated 1778.Joshua D. Rothman (2018):
The Curious Origins of the Dollar Sign
Online article on the ''We're History'' website, dated 2018-04-01. Accessed on 2021-08-12. * In 1937, historian James Alton James claimed that the symbol with two strokes was an adapted design of patriot Robert Morris in 1778, in letters written to Pollock. * In 1939, H. M. Larson suggested that the sign could derive from a combination of the Greek character "psi" (ψ) and "S". * Writer Ayn Rand claimed in her 1957 book '' Atlas Shrugged'' that the sign started off as a monogram of "US", with a narrow "U" superimposed on the "S", which would have been used on money bags issued by the
United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...
. In her theory, the bottom part of the "U" would have been lost, producing the dollar sign with two vertical lines.(2018):
Where did the dollar sign come from?
Online article of the ''History'' channel website, dated 2018-08-22. Accessed on 2021-08-12. * Authors T. Seijas and J. Frederick noted that the captors of slaves in Spanish territories sometimes branded enslaved people with a symbol very similar to a one-barred dollar sign. ''Esclavo'' is Spanish for "slave," and ''clavo'' means nail. A dollar sign is S + ''clavo''. * A theory often cited in
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
speaking countries is that the "S" part of the doubly-stroked sign is a schematic representation of the path followed by the
Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
general
Tariq Ibn Ziyad Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād ( ar, طارق بن زياد), also known simply as Tarik in English, was a Berber commander who served the Umayyad Caliphate and initiated the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania (present-day Spain and Portugal) ...
in his conquest of the
Visigoth The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kn ...
kingdom in 711 CE, and the two strokes represent the Pillars of Hercules that he would have crossed along that path. That symbol would have been engraved in coins commemorating his victory, and then became symbolic of currency in general.(2015): "Origem do Cifrão". Note on the website of the Casa da Moeda do Brasil (Brazilian Mint). Accessed on 2021-08-12.


Currencies that use the dollar sign


As symbol of the currency

The numerous currencies called "
dollar Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, ...
" use the dollar sign to express money amounts. The sign is also generally used for the many currencies called "
peso The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...
" (except the
Philippine peso The Philippine peso, also referred to by its Tagalog name ''piso'' (Philippine English: , , plural pesos; tl, piso ; sign: ₱; code: PHP), is the official currency of the Philippines. It is subdivided into 100 ''sentimo'', also called ...
, which uses the symbol " ₱"). Within a country the dollar/peso sign may be used alone. In other cases, and to avoid ambiguity in international usage, it is usually combined with other glyphs, e.g. CA$ or Can$ for Canadian dollar. The dollar sign, alone or in combination with other glyphs, is or was used to denote several currencies with other names, including: *
Brazilian cruzeiro Brazilian cruzeiro refers to any of four distinct Brazilian currencies: * Brazilian cruzeiro (1942–1967), worth 1,000 Brazilian réis * Brazilian cruzeiro (1967–1986), denominated ''cruzeiro novo'' between 1967 and 1970 in the transition from ...
(various currencies, all defunct): ₢$, \mathrm\!\!\!\Vert, \mathrm\!\!\!\Vert, \mathrm\!\!\!\Vert, etc. *
Brazilian real The Brazilian real ( pl. '; sign: R$; code: BRL) is the official currency of Brazil. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. The Central Bank of Brazil is the central bank and the issuing authority. The real replaced the cruzeiro real in 1994 ...
: R$ *
Ethiopian birr The birr ( am, ብር) is the unit of currency in Ethiopia. It is subdivided into 100 ''santim''. In 1931, Emperor Haile Selassie I formally requested that the international community use the name ''Ethiopia'' (as it had already been known inte ...
(until 1976): E$ *
Macanese pataca The Macanese pataca or Macau pataca (; pt, pataca de Macau; sign: $; abbreviation: P; ISO code: MOP) is the currency of the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It is subdivided into 100 ''avos'' (; ''sin'' ...
: MOP$ * Nicaraguan córdoba: C$ * Samoan tālā (a transliteration of the word dollar): $ *
Tongan paʻanga The paanga is the currency of Tonga. It is controlled by the National Reserve Bank of Tonga (''Pangikē Pule Fakafonua o Tonga'') in Nukualofa. The paanga is not convertible and is pegged to a basket of currencies comprising the Australian, New ...
: T$ *
Malaya and British Borneo dollar The Malaya and British Borneo dollar ( ms, ringgit; ms, رڠڬيت, label=Jawi alphabet, Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset) was the currency of Federation of Malaya, Malaya, Singapore, Crown Colony of Sarawak, Sarawak, Crown Colony of North Bor ...
(1957–1967): $ *
Malaysian ringgit The Malaysian ringgit (; plural: ringgit; symbol: RM; currency code: MYR; Malay name: ''Ringgit Malaysia''; formerly the Malaysian dollar) is the currency of Malaysia. It is divided into 100 ''sen'' (formerly ''cents''). The ringgit is issue ...
(1967–1997): $, \mathrm\!\!\!\Vert


Prefix or suffix

In the United States, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Pacific Island nations, and English-speaking Canada, the sign is written before the number ("$5"), even though the word is written or spoken after it ("five dollars", "''cinco pesos''"). In French-speaking Canada, exceptionally, the dollar symbol usually appears after the number, e.g., "". (The
cent symbol The cent is a money, monetary Units of measurement, unit of many national currency, currencies that equals of the basic monetary unit. Etymology, Etymologically, the word 'cent' derives from the Latin word meaning 100 (number), hundred. The ...
is written after the number in most countries that use it, e.g., "5 ¢".)


Use in the Portuguese Empire

In Portugal, Brazil, and other parts of the
Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...
, the two-stroke variant of the sign (with the name ; () was used as the thousands separator of amounts in the national currency, the
real Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...
(plural "réis", abbreviated "Rs."): meant "". This usage is attested in 1775, but may be older by a century or more.João Joseph Du Beux (1775)
Receipt of Rs.
for purchase by of 50 volumes of the ''Acta Santorum'' by the College of the Carmo of Coimbra. Quote: "Recebemos ..a quantia de Duzentos Settenta mil reis ..por Clareza passamos este Coimbra 15 de Março de 1775. São Rs". Cartório do Colégio do Carmo, Maço 35, n.o 17. apud ALMEIDA, Manuel Lopes in "Livro, livreiros, impressores em documentos da Universidade", Arquivo de Bibliografia Portuguesa, ano X-XII, Atlântida, Coimbra, 1964-66, n o 37-48. It is always written with two vertical lines: . It is the official sign of the Cape Verdean escudo ( ISO 4217: CVE). In 1911 Portugal redefined the national currency as the
escudo The escudo ( Portuguese: 'shield') is a unit of currency historically used in Portugal and its colonies in South America, Asia, and Africa. It was originally worth 16 silver . The Cape Verdean escudo and the former Portuguese escudo (PTE), eac ...
, worth , and divided into 100 ; but the ''cifrão'' continued to be used as the
decimal separator A decimal separator is a symbol used to separate the integer part from the fractional part of a number written in decimal form (e.g., "." in 12.45). Different countries officially designate different symbols for use as the separator. The choi ...
, so that meant or 123 escudos and 50 centavos. This usage ended in 2002 when the country switched to the
euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
. (A similar scheme to use a letter symbol instead of a decimal point is used by the
RKM code The RKM code, also referred to as "letter and numeral code for resistance and capacitance values and tolerances", "letter and digit code for resistance and capacitance values and tolerances", or informally as "R notation" is a notation to speci ...
in electrical engineering since 1952.) Cape Verde, a republic and former Portuguese colony, similarly switched from the real to their local
escudo The escudo ( Portuguese: 'shield') is a unit of currency historically used in Portugal and its colonies in South America, Asia, and Africa. It was originally worth 16 silver . The Cape Verdean escudo and the former Portuguese escudo (PTE), eac ...
and centavos in 1914, and retains the ''cifrão'' usage as decimals separator as of 2021. Local versions of the Portuguese escudo were for a time created also for other overseas colonies, including
East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...
(1958–1975), Portuguese India (1958–1961),
Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...
(1914–1928 and 1958–1977),
Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
(1914–1980),
Portuguese Guinea Portuguese Guinea ( pt, Guiné), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a West African colony of Portugal from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as Gu ...
(1914–1975), and São Tomé and Príncipe (1914–1977); presumably all using the ''cifrão'' as decimals separator.
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
retained the real and the ''cifrão'' as thousands separator until 1942, when it switched to the
Brazilian cruzeiro Brazilian cruzeiro refers to any of four distinct Brazilian currencies: * Brazilian cruzeiro (1942–1967), worth 1,000 Brazilian réis * Brazilian cruzeiro (1967–1986), denominated ''cruzeiro novo'' between 1967 and 1970 in the transition from ...
, with comma as the decimals separator. The dollar sign, officially with one stroke but often rendered with two, was retained as part of the currency symbol , so one would write for 13 cruzeiros and 50 centavos.(1960): Price on th
front cover
of the 1960-05-07 issue of ''
O Cruzeiro ''O Cruzeiro'' (initially just ''Cruzeiro'') was a Brazilian illustrated weekly magazine, published in Rio de Janeiro from 1928 until 1985, with the exception of the period from August 1975 to June 1977. History and profile The publication, subt ...
'' magazine, reproduced on the ''Muzeez'' website on 2016-12-105. Accessed on 2021-08-14. It was formerly used by the
Portuguese escudo The Portuguese escudo was the currency of Portugal from May 22nd 1911 until the introduction of the euro on January 1st 2002. The escudo was subdivided into 100 . The word derives from the scutum shield. Amounts in escudos were written as w ...
(ISO: PTE) before its replacement by the
euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
and by the Portuguese Timor escudo (ISO: TPE) before its replacement by the Indonesian rupiah and the
US dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...
.Lisbon-tourist-guide.com.
Portuguese Escudo
" 2008. In Portuguese and Cape Verdean usage, the is placed as a decimal point between the escudo and values.Banco de Cabo Verde.
Moedas
." Accessed 25 Feb 2011. The name originates in the
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
(), meaning 'zero'.


Fictional currencies

Some virtual world and gaming platforms have used the $ symbol to refer to their own virtual currencies, for example: * S$: Sansar dollars ('' Sansar'') * L$: Linden dollars (''
Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...
'') * M$: Minecoins (''
Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java (programming language), Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made pub ...
'') * D$: Dark dollars (''
Deltarune ''Deltarune'' is a role-playing video game developed by Toby Fox. The player controls a teenage human, Kris, who is destined to save the world together with Susie, a monster, and Ralsei, a prince from the Dark World. During their quest to seal t ...
'')


One stroke vs. two strokes

In some places and at some times, the one- and two-stroke variants have been used in the same contexts to distinguish between the U.S. dollar and other local currency, such as the former
Portuguese escudo The Portuguese escudo was the currency of Portugal from May 22nd 1911 until the introduction of the euro on January 1st 2002. The escudo was subdivided into 100 . The word derives from the scutum shield. Amounts in escudos were written as w ...
. However, such usage is not standardized, and furthermore the two versions are generally considered mere graphic variants of the same symbol—a
typeface design Type design is the art and process of designing typefaces. This involves drawing each letterform using a consistent style. The basic concepts and design variables are described below. A typeface differs from other modes of graphic production su ...
choice. Computer and typewriter keyboards usually have a single key for that sign, and many character encodings (including
ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...
and
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, wh ...
) reserve a single numeric code for it. Indeed, dollar signs in the same digital document may be rendered with one or two strokes, if different
computer font A computer font is implemented as a digital data file containing a set of graphically related glyphs. A computer font is designed and created using a font editor. A computer font specifically designed for the computer screen, and not for print ...
s are used. Should that ambiguity be significant, one may use explicit abbreviations (like "" or "$NZ"), or ISO 4217 three-letter currency codes (such as
USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
and MXN) to distinguish different currencies that use the symbol. When a specific variant is not mandated by law or custom, the choice is usually a matter of expediency or aesthetic preference. Both versions were used in the US in the 18th century. (An 1861
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
-era advertisement depicts the two-stroked symbol as a snake.) The two-stroke version seems to be generally less popular today, though used in some "old-style" fonts like
Baskerville Baskerville is a serif typeface designed in the 1750s by John Baskerville (1706–1775) in Birmingham, England, and cut into metal by punchcutter John Handy. Baskerville is classified as a transitional typeface, intended as a refinement of what ...
.


Use in computer software

Because of its use in early American computer applications such as business accounting, the dollar sign is almost universally present in computer
character set Character encoding is the process of assigning numbers to graphical characters, especially the written characters of human language, allowing them to be stored, transmitted, and transformed using digital computers. The numerical values tha ...
s, and thus has been appropriated for many purposes unrelated to money in
programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...
s and
command language A command language is a language for job control in computing. It is a domain-specific and interpreted language; common examples of a command language are shell or batch programming languages. These languages can be used directly at the comman ...
s.


Encoding

The dollar sign "$" has Unicode code point U+0024 (inherited from
ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...
via
Latin-1 ISO/IEC 8859-1:1998, ''Information technology — 8-bit single-byte coded graphic character sets — Part 1: Latin alphabet No. 1'', is part of the ISO/IEC 8859 series of ASCII-based standard character encodings, first edition published in 1 ...
). * There are no separate encodings for one- and two-line variants. The choice is typeface-dependent, they are
allograph Allography, from the Greek for "other writing", has several meanings which all relate to how words and sounds are written down. Authorship An allograph may be the opposite of an autograph – i.e. a person's words or name ( signature) written b ...
s. However, there are three other code points that originate from other East Asian standards: the Taiwanese small form variant, the CJK fullwidth form, and the Japanese emoji. The glyphs for these code points are typically larger or smaller than the primary code point, but the difference is mostly aesthetic or typographic, and the meanings of the symbols are the same. * * * However, for usage as the special character in various computing applications (see following sections), U+0024 is typically the only code that is recognized. Support for the two-line variant varies. the
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, wh ...
standard considers the distinction between one- and two-bar dollar signs a stylistic distinction between fonts, and has no separate
code point In character encoding terminology, a code point, codepoint or code position is a numerical value that maps to a specific character. Code points usually represent a single grapheme—usually a letter, digit, punctuation mark, or whitespace—but ...
for the . The symbol is not in the October 2019 'pipeline', but appears to be under active consideration. The following fonts display a double-bar dollar sign for code point 0024: regular-weight
Baskerville Baskerville is a serif typeface designed in the 1750s by John Baskerville (1706–1775) in Birmingham, England, and cut into metal by punchcutter John Handy. Baskerville is classified as a transitional typeface, intended as a refinement of what ...
,
Big Caslon Caslon is the name given to serif typefaces designed by William Caslon I (c. 1692–1766) in London, or inspired by his work. Caslon worked as an engraver of punches, the masters used to stamp the moulds or matrices used to cast metal ty ...
,
Bodoni MT Bodoni is the name given to the serif typefaces first designed by Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813) in the late eighteenth century and frequently revived since. Bodoni's typefaces are classified as Didone or modern. Bodoni followed the ideas o ...
,
Bradley Hand ITC Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English. Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular. It is also an Anglicisation of t ...
, Brush Script MT,
Garamond Garamond is a group of many serif typefaces, named for sixteenth-century Parisian engraver Claude Garamond, generally spelled as Garamont in his lifetime. Garamond-style typefaces are popular and particularly often used for book printing and bo ...
, STFangsong, STKaiti, and STSong ($). In
LaTeX Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...
, with the textcomp package installed, the (\mathrm\!\!\!\Vert) can be input using the command \textdollaroldstyle. However, because of
font substitution Font substitution is the process of using one typeface in place of another when the intended typeface either is not available or does not contain glyphs for the required characters. Font substitution can be aided by: * classifying fonts into ge ...
and the lack of a dedicated code point, the author of an electronic document who uses one of these fonts intending to represent a cannot be sure that every reader will see a double-bar glyph rather than the single barred version. Because of the continued lack of support in Unicode, a single bar dollar sign is frequently employed in its place even for official purposes. Where there is any risk of misunderstanding, the ISO 4217
three letter acronym A three-letter acronym (TLA), or three-letter abbreviation, is an abbreviation consisting of three letters. These are usually the initial letters of the words of the phrase abbreviated, and are written in capital letters (upper case); three-lette ...
is used.


Programming languages

* was used for defining string variables in older versions of the BASIC language, e.g. ( was often pronounced "string" instead of "dollar" in this use). * is prefixed to names to define variables in the
PHP PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared toward web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group. ...
language and the
AutoIt AutoIt is a freeware programming language for Microsoft Windows. In its earliest release, it was primarily intended to create automation scripts (sometimes called macros) for Microsoft Windows programs but has since grown to include enhancements ...
automation script language, scalar variables in the
Perl Perl is a family of two high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming languages. "Perl" refers to Perl 5, but from 2000 to 2019 it also referred to its redesigned "sister language", Perl 6, before the latter's name was offic ...
language (see
sigil (computer programming) In computer programming, a sigil () is a symbol affixed to a variable name, showing the variable's datatype or scope, usually a prefix, as in $foo, where $ is the sigil. ''Sigil'', from the Latin '' sigillum'', meaning a "little sign", means ''a ...
), and global variables in the
Ruby A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called ...
language. In Perl programming this includes scalar elements of
arrays An array is a systematic arrangement of similar objects, usually in rows and columns. Things called an array include: {{TOC right Music * In twelve-tone and serial composition, the presentation of simultaneous twelve-tone sets such that the ...
and hashes . * In most shell scripting languages, is used to indicate the insertion into strings of
environment variable An environment variable is a dynamic-named value that can affect the way running processes will behave on a computer. They are part of the environment in which a process runs. For example, a running process can query the value of the TEMP envi ...
s, special variables, input data fields, previous commands, arithmetic computations, and special characters, and for performing translation of localised strings. In the shell script languages of CP/M,
DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...
, and several
Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...
systems, it is used to insert variable information (such as the current
working directory In computing, the working directory of a process is a directory of a hierarchical file system, if any, dynamically associated with each process. It is sometimes called the current working directory (CWD), e.g. the BSD getcwd function, or just c ...
,
user name A user is a person who utilizes a computer or network service. A user often has a user account and is identified to the system by a username (or user name). Other terms for username include login name, screenname (or screen name), accoun ...
, or sequential command number) in the
command prompt Command Prompt, also known as cmd.exe or cmd, is the default command-line interpreter for the OS/2, eComStation, ArcaOS, Microsoft Windows (Windows NT family and Windows CE family), and ReactOS operating systems. On Windows CE .NET 4.2, W ...
. * is used for defining hexadecimal constants in Pascal-like languages such as Delphi, and in some variants of assembly language. * is used in the
ALGOL 68 ALGOL 68 (short for ''Algorithmic Language 1968'') is an imperative programming language that was conceived as a successor to the ALGOL 60 programming language, designed with the goal of a much wider scope of application and more rigorously d ...
language to delimit transput format regions. * is used in the
TeX Tex may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tex (nickname), a list of people and fictional characters with the nickname * Joe Tex (1933–1982), stage name of American soul singer Joseph Arrington Jr. Entertainment * ''Tex'', the Italian ...
typesetting Typesetting is the composition of text by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or '' glyphs'' in digital systems representing '' characters'' (letters and other symbols).Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random ...
language to delimit mathematical regions. * In many versions of FORTRAN 66, could be used as an alternative to a quotation mark for delimiting strings. * In
PL/M The PL/M programming language (an acronym of ''Programming Language for Microcomputers'') is a high-level language conceived and developed by Gary Kildall in 1973 for Hank Smith at Intel for its microprocessors. Overview The language incorpor ...
, can be used to put a visible separation between words in compound identifiers. For example, refers to the same thing as 'SomeName'. * In
Haskell Haskell () is a general-purpose, statically-typed, purely functional programming language with type inference and lazy evaluation. Designed for teaching, research and industrial applications, Haskell has pioneered a number of programming lan ...
, is used as a function application operator. * In an
AutoHotkey AutoHotkey is a free and open-source custom scripting language for Microsoft Windows, initially aimed at providing easy keyboard shortcuts or hotkeys, fast macro-creation and software automation that allows users of most levels of computer skil ...
script, a hotkey declared with is not triggered by a 'Send' command elsewhere in the script. * In several
JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior, of ...
frameworks such as
Prototype.js The Prototype JavaScript Framework is a JavaScript framework created by Sam Stephenson in February 2005 as part of Ajax support in Ruby on Rails. It is implemented as a single file of JavaScript code, usually named prototype.js. Prototype is dis ...
and
jQuery jQuery is a JavaScript library designed to simplify HTML DOM tree traversal and manipulation, as well as event handling, CSS animation, and Ajax. It is free, open-source software using the permissive MIT License. As of Aug 2022, jQuery is u ...
, is a common
utility class As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosophe ...
, and is often referred to as ''the buck''. Otherwise, it's a character allowed in identifiers. * In
JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior, of ...
from ES6 onward it is used inside template literals to insert the value of a variable. For example, if then would equal * In C#, marks a string literal as an interpolated string. * In
ASP.NET ASP.NET is an open-source, server-side web-application framework designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. It was developed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic web sites, applications and services. The name s ...
, the dollar sign used in a tag in the web page indicates an expression will follow it. The expression that follows is .NET
language-agnostic Language-agnostic programming or scripting (also called language-neutral, language-independent, or cross-language) is a software paradigm in which no particular language is promoted. In introductory instruction, the term refers to teaching princip ...
, as it will work with C#,
VB.NET Visual Basic, originally called Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), is a multi-paradigm, object-oriented programming language, implemented on .NET, Mono, and the .NET Framework. Microsoft launched VB.NET in 2002 as the successor to its original Visua ...
, or any CLR supported language. * In Erlang, the dollar sign precedes character literals. The dollar sign as a character can be written . * In COBOL the sign is used in the Picture clause to depict a floating currency symbol as the left most character. The default symbol is ; however, if the or clause is specified, many other symbols can be used. * In some assembly languages, such as MIPS, the sign is used to represent registers. * In
Honeywell 6000 series The Honeywell 6000 series computers were rebadged versions of General Electric's 600-series mainframes manufactured by Honeywell International, Inc. from 1970 to 1989. Honeywell acquired the line when it purchased GE's computer division in 1970 ...
assembler, the sign, when used as an address, meant the address of the instruction in which it appeared. * In
CMS-2 CMS-2 is an embedded systems programming language used by the United States Navy. It was an early attempt to develop a standardized high-level computer programming language intended to improve code portability and reusability. CMS-2 was developed ...
, the sign is used as a statement terminator. * In R, the sign is used as a subsetting operator. * In Q (programming language from Kx Systems), the sign is used as a casting/padding/enumeration/conditional operator. * In Sass, the sign is prefixed to define a variable.


Operating systems

* In CP/M and subsequently in all versions of
DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...
( 86-DOS,
MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...
,
PC DOS PC or pc may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Player character or playable character, a fictional character controlled by a human player, usually in role-playing games or computer games * '' Port Charles'', an American daytime TV soap opera * ...
, more) and derivatives, is used as a string terminator ( with ). * In Microsoft Windows, is appended to the share name to hide a shared folder or resource. For example, will be visible to other computers on a network, while will be accessible only by explicit reference. Hiding a shared folder or resource will not alter its access permissions but may render it inaccessible to programs or other functions which rely on its visibility. Most administrative shares are hidden in this way. * In the
LDAP The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP ) is an open, vendor-neutral, industry standard application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. Directory servi ...
directory access protocol, is used as a line separator in various standard entry attributes such as postalAddress. * In the
UNIVAC EXEC 8 OS 2200 is the operating system for the Unisys ClearPath Dorado family of mainframe systems. The operating system kernel of OS 2200 is a lineal descendant of Exec 8 for the UNIVAC 1108. Documentation and other information on current and past Un ...
operating system, means "system". It is appended to entities such as the names of system files, the "sender" name in messages sent by the operator, and the default names of system-created files (like compiler output) when no specific name is specified (e.g., , , etc.) * In
RISC OS RISC OS is a computer operating system originally designed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge, England. First released in 1987, it was designed to run on the ARM chipset, which Acorn had designed concurrently for use in its new line of Archi ...
, is used in system variables to separate the application name from the variables specific to that application. For example Draw$Dir specifies the directory where the !Draw application is located. It is also used to refer to the root directory of a file system.


Applications

*
Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It features calculation or computation capabilities, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for App ...
and other spreadsheet software use the dollar sign ($) to denote a fixed row, fixed column reference, or an absolute cell reference. * The dollar sign introduces a subfield delimiter in computer coding of library catalog records. * matches the end of a line or string in
sed sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs, and is available today for most operating systems. sed w ...
,
grep grep is a command-line utility for searching plain-text data sets for lines that match a regular expression. Its name comes from the ed command ''g/re/p'' (''globally search for a regular expression and print matching lines''), which has the sa ...
, and
POSIX The Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) is a family of standards specified by the IEEE Computer Society for maintaining compatibility between operating systems. POSIX defines both the system- and user-level application programming inter ...
and
Perl Perl is a family of two high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming languages. "Perl" refers to Perl 5, but from 2000 to 2019 it also referred to its redesigned "sister language", Perl 6, before the latter's name was offic ...
regular expression A regular expression (shortened as regex or regexp; sometimes referred to as rational expression) is a sequence of characters that specifies a search pattern in text. Usually such patterns are used by string-searching algorithms for "find" ...
s, as well as the end of a line or the file in text editors ed, ex, vi,
pico Pico may refer to: Places The Moon * Mons Pico, a lunar mountain in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin Portugal * Pico, a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Verde * Pico da Pedra, a civil parish in the municipality of Ribeir ...
, and derivatives.


Other uses

The symbol is sometimes used derisively, in place of the letter S, to indicate greed or excess money such as in " Micro$oft", " Di$ney", " Chel$ea" and " GW$"; or supposed overt Americanisation as in " $ky". The dollar sign is also used intentionally to stylize names such as A$AP Rocky,
Ke$ha Kesha Rose Sebert (; born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2005, at age 18, Kesha was signed to Kemosabe Records. Her first major success came in early 2009 after she was featured on America ...
, and
Ty Dolla $ign Tyrone William Griffin Jr. (born April 13, 1982), known professionally as Ty Dolla Sign (stylized as Ty Dolla $ign or Ty$), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He first gained major recognition in 2010 for his feature on Ameri ...
or words such as . In 1872,
Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book '' The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by ...
referred to California governor Leland Stanford as $tealand Landford. In
Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...
notation, a dollar sign is placed after a word to indicate that it is valid according to the North American word lists, but not according to the British word lists. A dollar symbol is used as unit of reactivity for a nuclear reactor, being the threshold of slow criticality, meaning a steady reaction rate, while is the threshold of
prompt criticality In nuclear engineering, prompt criticality describes a nuclear fission event in which criticality (the threshold for an exponentially growing nuclear fission chain reaction) is achieved with prompt neutrons alone (neutrons that are released immed ...
, which means a nuclear excursion or explosion. The dollar sign was used as a letter in the
Turkmen alphabet The Turkmen alphabet ( tk, Türkmen elipbiýi / / ) refers to variants of the Latin alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet, or Arabic alphabet used for writing of the Turkmen language. The modified variant of the Latin alphabet currently has an officia ...
from 1993 to 1999. The dollar sign plays an important role in the plot of Ayn Rand's novel '' Atlas Shrugged'', with the book's radical
Free Market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
activists adopting it as their insignia.


See also

* Cifrão * Euro sign *
Indian rupee sign The Indian rupee sign (₹) is the currency symbol for the Indian rupee (ISO 4217: INR), the official currency of India. Designed by D. Udaya Kumar, it was presented to the public by the Government of India on 15 July 2010, following its select ...
*
Pound sign The pound sign is the symbol for the pound unit of sterling – the currency of the United Kingdom and previously of Great Britain and of the Kingdom of England. The same symbol is used for other currencies called pound, such as the Gibralt ...
*
Ruble sign The ruble sign, , is the currency sign used for the Russian ruble, the official currency of Russia. Its form is a Cyrillic letter Р with an additional horizontal stroke. The design was approved on 11 December 2013 after a public poll that took ...
* Rupee sign *
Spanish dollar The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight ( es, Real de a ocho, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content ...
*
Turkish lira sign The lira ( tr, Türk lirası; sign: ₺; ISO 4217 code: TRY; abbreviation: TL) is the official currency of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. One lira is divided into one hundred ''kuruş''. History Ottoman lira (1844–1923) The lira, along with ...
*
Yen sign The yen and yuan sign, ¥, is a currency sign used for the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan currencies when writing in Latin scripts. This monetary symbol resembles a Latin letter Y with a single or double horizontal stroke. The symbol is usua ...
*
Yuan sign The yen and yuan sign, ¥, is a currency sign used for the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan currencies when writing in Latin scripts. This monetary symbol resembles a Latin letter Y with a single or double horizontal stroke. The symbol is usu ...
*
Won sign The won sign , is a currency symbol. It represents the South Korean won, the North Korean won and, unofficially, the old Korean won. Appearance Its appearance is "W" (the first letter of "Won") with a horizontal strike going through the cent ...


Explanatory notes


References


Citations


General and cited sources

* Contains section on the history of the dollar sign, with much documentary evidence supporting the "pesos" hypothesis. * *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dollar Peso Sign Currency symbols Numismatics eu:$