Annulation

The Cancel symbol was used in computer terminals, printers, text processing systems, and telecommunication equipment to cancel the current operation or task.

Its main purpose was to interrupt processes and operations that were initiated earlier. In case of an error, an incorrect command, or when the user wanted to cancel the current operation, this symbol was sent. The reaction to the CAN symbol depended on the specific device or program that processed it.

As for modern computer systems and applications, the U+0018 symbol is rarely used there, since other mechanisms and protocols are employed to manage and interrupt tasks.

Like many other control symbols, this one has no visible representation and doesn't occupy a lot of space on screen or in typed text. However, there is a separate symbol in Pictogrammes de commande  2400–243F representing the graphical image of the Cancel symbol as the abbreviation CAN — ␘ .

Le symbole «Annulation» est inclus dans le sous-bloc «Contrôles C0‹ du bloc ›Latin de base et a été approuvé dans le cadre de la version Unicode 1.1 en 1993.