Record Separator

␞ represents the record-separator control, which marks record boundaries in structured data. In the separator hierarchy, records sit inside groups; in MARC 21, a format for library records, the underlying control marks the end of a field. The visible ␞ is a printable picture; parsers expecting the control need the nonprinting character itself.

Text symbol

Also called: RS · ASCII RS · field terminator
Search it as: RS delimiter · MARC RS · control picture · U+001E
Shows up in: Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

What ␞ means

It marks the boundary between records. In the record separator hierarchy, files contain groups, groups contain records, and records contain units. ASCII defines four optional information separators for these nested levels; the data format determines what each part contains.

ASCII is a standard that assigns numbers to characters. Its 1969 RFC 20 specification, a guide for exchanging ASCII text, described these as optional separators. A 1977 U.S. national standard retained the hierarchy.

Why does MARC 21 use RS as a field terminator?

MARC 21 assigns it that role. MARC 21, a format for library records, uses the underlying ASCII record-separator control (RS) to mark the end of a field.

Technical and archival: a structural marker used in machine-readable records.