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Literal

Webopedia Staff
Webopedia Staff
Updated on:
In programming, a value written exactly as it’s meant to be interpreted. In contrast, a variable is a name that can represent different values during the execution of the program. And a constant is a name that represents the same value throughout a program. But a literal is not a name — it is the value itself.

A literal can be a number, a character, or a string. For example, in the expression,

x = 3

x is a variable, and 3 is a literal.

Webopedia Staff
Webopedia Staff
Since 1995, more than 100 tech experts and researchers have kept Webopedia’s definitions, articles, and study guides up to date. For more information on current editorial staff, please visit our About page.

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