00AD

00AD is a string that can refer to several distinct concepts depending on context. It is not a single formal term, but rather a sequence that appears in different domains such as character encoding, dating systems, and data labeling.

In Unicode and text encoding, 00AD corresponds to the code point U+00AD, known as the soft hyphen. The soft hyphen is a formatting control character that marks a potential hyphenation point within a word. It is usually invisible unless a line break occurs at that position, at which point a hyphen may be inserted by the rendering system. As such, its presence in text is often a matter of layout rather than visible content.

In dating conventions, some systems use astronomical year numbering, where year 0 is defined as 1 BCE. In this sense, a label like 00AD could be encountered informally to indicate a time near the start of the common era within a framework that includes a year zero. However, traditional historical calendars do not include a year 0 between 1 BCE and 1 CE, and many standard representations avoid using 00AD altogether.

In computing and data contexts, 00AD can appear as a hexadecimal value, part of identifiers, or a code used in file names, databases, or configurations. Without additional context, the sequence has no fixed or universal meaning beyond these domain-specific uses.

See also: soft hyphen, Unicode code points, astronomical year numbering.