control character whose bits are all 0
The null character is a control character with the value zero. Many character sets include a code point for a null character โ€“ including Unicode (Universal Coded Character Set), ASCII (ISO/IEC 646), โ€ฆ Wikipedia
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org โ€บ wiki โ€บ Null_character
Null character - Wikipedia
June 30, 2026 - On punched tape, the character is represented with no holes at all, so a new unpunched tape is initially filled with null characters, and often text could be inserted at a reserved space of null characters by punching the new characters into the tape over the nulls.
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Safe
docs.safe.com โ€บ fme โ€บ html โ€บ FME-Form-Documentation โ€บ FME-Terminology โ€บ Confluence-Topics โ€บ null__NULL__Null___null_.htm
null, NULL, Null,
Other text strings such as IFMEText geometry, datasets, and feature type names do not use this convention or store null values. ... DO use upper case NULL in code snippets, SQL statements, or when referring to a NULL pointer.
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This is a binary file which contains characters outside the set of printable ASCII characters.

Because these characters are "not printable", Notepad++ displays them as a descriptive block. You'll likely see others, as shown below. Here you see all of the values from binary 0 / 0x00 to 255 / 0xFF (which is the largest value that can be stored in a single byte).

The values shown on lines 1, 2 and 3 are typically referred to as "Control Characters", and are used to influence the terminal, cursor placement, etc... a NUL has the value 0 / 0x00. The BS control character is "Backspace", and instructs the application to remove one character and move the cursor back one space. Worthy of note are the "missing" or invisible characters between BS and VT... in here are the "Horizontal Tab" and "Line Feed" characters - the former is fairly self explanatory, and the latter will makes the text flow on to the next line.

On lines 4 and 5 you can see the entire set of printable ASCII characters. A space () has the binary values 32 / 0x20, an exclaimation point has the values 33 / 0x21, etc... The funny square box on the end of line 5 is the DEL control character - 127 / 0x7F.

All values including and above 128 are either "Extended ASCII", or also non-printable, and these are displayed from line 6 onwards as their raw value - e.g: x80. There isn't a good way to determine how to interpret these - some DOS applications used some of these characters to produce frames around "windows", boxes or areas on the terminal.

For more information, see the "Character Groups" section of the wiki page.

Viewing the same file as above in a "Hex Editor", you will typically see the raw binary values alongside the ASCII representation.


When the file contains data other than plain text (e.g: it's an application, or other binary file), you'll see a lot of non-print characters, because they were never intended for human consumption... In such files, the data is laid out in binary, usually following a strict structure or format. In some cases the data represents large numbers (by concatenating a number of bytes together), in other cases they might represent "machine code" or raw instructions that are presented directly to a processor.

You might be able to see strings inside such binary files, but this is more "by accident" than on purpose - the application itself has to know what to print to the screen when you see a message, and this will be that.

There are a couple of common ways that strings are encoded in binary files.

1. C String

This format makes use of 8-bit characters, and terminates the string with a NUL character. The string is immediately visible in the file, as shown below - note the terminating NUL.

2. UTF-16

This format makes use of 16-bit characters (i.e: two bytes concatenated), and can represent a portion of the code points described by Unicode. Here, you see that the string is somewhat visible, if you read between the NUL characters... This format is very common in applications that target Windows.

Can you see the string Logical Disks on the second line?


Binary files can also store other resources inside them - for example images, sounds, XML, JSON, Archives, etc... the application can then extract the resources to disk at runtime if necessary, or may often process them directly from memory.

It's often possible to extract these resources using tools in an automated fashion, but in some cases the file is not designed to an open / common standard, and some manual intervention is required.

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When you create a file to store data, you can store a series of bytes. 1 byte is any number between 0 and 255. In many fileformats, it is enough to use any number between 0 and 255 to store data.

But as systems get more complex and advanced, developers sometimes need to store numbers that are far greater than 255. 2 bytes = 256*256 = 65535, 4 bytes = 256*256*256*256 = 4294967296. So by combining 4 bytes, one can store values from 0 to 4294967295.

You can even combine 8 or more bytes to form a number which often happens in 64-bit applications where you need 64 bits (8x8 bytes).

Because numbers stored are often low, most of the bytes are 0, aka NUL. So in a file, you see a lot of NUL because it are all low values in 64-bit constructions.

Why would one not optimize the file? Because most programmers use functions that store the data for them, and they keep every scenario in mind, including storing big numbers.

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Quora
quora.com โ€บ What-does-a-nullnull-text-message-mean
What does a 'nullnull' text message mean? - Quora
Concatenated empty segments: Long SMS that are split into multiple segments can include empty segments; the receiver's reassembly shows repeated "null". Corrupted MMS or binary payload: Non-text content (emojis, stickers, RCS features, delivery receipts, or binary data) misunderstood as plain ...
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Reddit
reddit.com โ€บ r/verizon โ€บ text messages from my own number that just say "null"
r/verizon on Reddit: Text messages from my own number that just say "null"
October 1, 2022 -

Hey everyone,

Today I was received 2 text messages from my number that just said "null." This was right after I sent 2 text messages which seemed to go through just fine. I was wondering if anyone knows what this means? I recently blocked a number, so I'm not sure if that is related.

Thanks in advance!

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Oreate AI
oreateai.com โ€บ blog โ€บ decoding-null-in-your-text-messages-more-than-just-an-empty-space โ€บ f9c1f21275ae463c0c735039a7a4c0fc
Decoding 'Null' in Your Text Messages: More Than Just an Empty Space - Oreate AI Blog
March 2, 2026 - Discover what 'null' means when it appears in text messages and digital platforms. It's a technical placeholder indicating missing data, often due to temporary glitches or connection issues.
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Wordsemeaning
wordsemeaning.com โ€บ what-does-null-mean-in-text
What Does Null Mean in Text: Understand Its Use in 2026
February 1, 2026 - Often, itโ€™s used in chats or text apps when a message error happens or info is missing. The tone is usually neutral, but context matters. When you see โ€œnullโ€ in a text, it usually means that something is blank, empty, or failed to send.
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SoftHandTech
softhandtech.com โ€บ why-does-my-text-say-null
Understanding "Null" in Your Text: The Hidden Mysteries Explained - SoftHandTech
March 24, 2025 - Identifying null values in text data typically involves searching for specific markers or patterns that indicate missing information. In programming languages, null values might be represented as โ€œnull,โ€ โ€œNaNโ€ (Not a Number), or simply as blank fields.
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Microsoft Fabric Community
community.fabric.microsoft.com โ€บ t5 โ€บ Service โ€บ Text-columns-with-NULL-are-converted-to-empty-text-in-datamodel โ€บ m-p โ€บ 2722644
Text columns with NULL are converted to empty text in datamodel
August 29, 2022 - ... If this post helps, then please ... your requirement could not be realized currently. When you change the data type to text, the null values will be converted to blank....
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ASCII Code
ascii-code.com โ€บ character โ€บ โ€
Null character - ASCII Code
The null character (โ€) is a control character with the value zero. It is present in many character sets, including ASCII and its extensions, Unicode, EBCDIC, and others. In some cases, it is referred to as the NUL character.
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Apple Community
discussions.apple.com โ€บ thread โ€บ 7654895
Talk to text sent from "null" - Apple Community
September 8, 2016 - Everything is set properly and I tried to text 3 friends on the road and when I didn't hear back, I looked and all 3 texts were in the NULL text... I've updated to the latest OS, checked the Start New Conversations and everything is ok... please help.
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BOIA
boia.org โ€บ blog โ€บ when-should-i-use-empty-or-null-alt-text-attributes
When Should I Use Empty (or Null) Alt Text Attributes?
August 2, 2024 - If itโ€™s redundant with a text hyperlink, use null alt text to avoid creating an empty hyperlink. When writing any alt text, donโ€™t write too much. Briefly describe the image in simple, objective terms; avoid using words like โ€œimage of" or โ€œpicture of.โ€
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Alteryx Community
community.alteryx.com โ€บ t5 โ€บ Alteryx-Designer-Desktop-Discussions โ€บ Convert-quot-NULL-quot-text-into-actual-NULL-value-in-multiple โ€บ td-p โ€บ 105402
Solved: Convert "NULL" text into actual NULL value in mult... - Alteryx Community
May 24, 2018 - Use a Multi-Field formula tool. Select all the text columns with the formula ยท if [_CurrentField_]='NULL' then null() else [_CurrentField_] endif ยท Scott Jones Strategic Sales Engineer Alteryx, Inc.
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Make Community
community.make.com โ€บ questions
Text parser - Replace, adding "null" instead of deleting matched text - Questions - Make Community
February 18, 2023 - Hello! I am using the Text parser - Replace transformer to strip a paragraph of HTML. It works well, but instead of simply deleting the HTML, it adds โ€œnullโ€ to the text instead. See example: Is there a way to get itโ€ฆ
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TextPad Community
forums.textpad.com โ€บ home โ€บ board index โ€บ peer group support โ€บ general
Help! View Null Characters! - Community - TextPad
I presume I have a misunderstanding as to the definition of a null character. Tabs, Spaces, and Paragraph symbols can be turned on or off from that button. If this is what you want and you are not seeing anything, Close all open instances of TextPad. Open a new instance Go to Configure > Preferences > View and look in the box for Visible white spaces Check off what you want.