Sulukset

Sulukset is the Finnish term for punctuation marks that come in matched pairs to enclose text. In English, the category is commonly described as parentheses and brackets, and it includes several shapes: round parentheses, square brackets, curly braces, and angle brackets. Sulukset serve to set off supplementary information, specify optional elements, or indicate grouping in lists, formulas, and code.

Common types include: Round parentheses (), used to insert clarifications or annotate text without breaking the main sentence; square brackets [], often employed for editorial insertions, clarifications, or indexing; curly braces {}, primarily used in mathematics and programming to denote sets or blocks of code; and angle brackets <>, found in technical notation and markup languages such as HTML and XML.

Uses extend across disciplines. In writing, sulukset help to add asides or explain references; in mathematics, they govern order of operations and function arguments; in programming, they delineate blocks, array indices, or type parameters. They must be balanced, and nesting is common but can reduce readability if overused.

Terminology and typography. The concept is widespread across languages, with regional conventions about spacing and line breaks. In most styles, the closing symbol attaches to the preceding word without an extra space, and the punctuation outside parentheses follows the main sentence structure. In computing and web technologies, angle brackets are integral to markup and data delimitation.

See also: punctuation, brackets, parentheses, and syntax in programming.