The ones that make it beep or clear the screen or print a fancy box around some text. These are the unsung heroes of computing, and they deserve our respect and admiration.

Alright, the bell character (ASCII code 7). This little guy is responsible for making your computer emit an annoying beep sound whenever it encounters him in a program. He’s often used to indicate errors or to get someone’s attention when they’re working on something important and don’t want to be disturbed by anything as trivial as, say, the actual task at hand.

Next we have the carriage return character (ASCII code 13). This guy is responsible for moving your cursor back to the beginning of the line after you hit enter. He’s also known as a “newline” or “line feed,” and he’s essential for creating neat, organized text documents that don’t all run together in one big mess.

The tab character (ASCII code 9) is another important control character. This guy is responsible for moving your cursor over to the next tab stop on a page. He’s often used to create columns of data or to align text neatly within a document. And let’s not forget about the space character (ASCII code 32), which is essential for separating words and making sentences readable.

But control characters aren’t just limited to basic formatting functions. They can also be used to create more advanced features, like clear screens or print fancy boxes around text. For example, the escape character (ASCII code 27) followed by a series of other codes can be used to create complex graphics and animations on your screen.

Of course, not all control characters are created equal. Some have fallen out of favor over time as technology has advanced, while others continue to play an important role in modern computing. For example, the backspace character (ASCII code 8) was once used extensively for deleting text and correcting errors, but nowadays it’s mostly replaced by more sophisticated editing tools like cut-and-paste or undo/redo functions.