"=", 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)