Why are strings called "strings"? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here: Closed 12 years ago.

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The History Behind the Definition of a 'String'

About the only thing every programming language I've seen is able to a开发者_Go百科gree upon is that a variable that refers to a block of text is called a "string." Why? Where does the name come from, and how did it become idiomatic across programming in general?

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Great question! This might be somewhat helpful:

Strings are called "strings" because they are made up of a sequence, or string, of characters.

Source: http://www.vias.org/cppcourse/chap07_03.html

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Very interesting,

The very definition of a string (according to Princeton at least) is:

a linear sequence of symbols

So, since the String datatype is a sequence of characters/symbols, it rather fits the definition.