What is the ~ key used for on a standard keyboard?

Alternatively referred to as the squiggly or twiddle, the tilde (Till-Day) is a character ( ~ ) on keyboards below the Esc (escape key). It is on the same key as the back quote that resembles a squiggly line. The graphic gives a representation of how the tilde character may appear when typed.

What is a tilde is used for on a computer?

Below are a few examples of how and when the tilde is used.

    * In languages like Spanish and Portuguese, the tilde is a diacritical mark over letters such as 'ñ' and 'ã' indicating alternate pronunciation of a consonant or vowel.
    * Shorten long file names in Microsoft Windows 95 above. For example, changing the "Program Files" directory to the "Progra~1" directory.
    * In regular expressions, the tilde can be used for pattern matching.
    * A file beginning with a tilde or a tilde and a dollar sign (e.g., ~$example.doc) is a temporary file.
    * In C programming languages, the ~ represents a bitwise NOT.
    * Get to the home directory on a Linux computer (e.g., cd ~).
    * Access the console in programs and games such as Quake.
    * In mathematics, ~ indicates an approximate number.
    *Access to the Tilda GTK+ terminal emulator.