"=", ASCII character 61. COMmon names: ITU-T: equals gets takes. Rare: quadrathorpe INTERCAL: half-mesh. Equals is used in many languages as the assignment operator though earlier languages used ":=" ("beCOMes equal to") to avoid upsetting mathematicians with statements such as "x = x+1". It is also used in COMpounds such as "<=", ">=", "==", "/=", "!=" for various COMparison operators and in C' s "+=", "*=" etc. which mimic the primitive operations of two-address code. (1995-03-29)