(1) Slang for "communications channel" (line, wire, fiber, etc.). See
data pipe,
fat pipe and
thin pipe.
(2) The symbol for Boolean OR operations, which is the Shift-Backslash key on a computer keyboard. For example, to search for Dell or Toshiba laptops in Google, the pipe symbol can be used instead of upper case OR as follows:
laptops (dell | toshiba)
laptops (dell OR toshiba)
(3) The symbol for a shared space that accepts the output of one program for input into another. In Windows, DOS and Unix, the pipe command is a vertical line (|). For example, the DOS/Windows command
dir | find directs the output of the directory list to the FIND filter. In Unix/Linux, the statement
ls | wc directs the directory list output to the word count function to count the number of files. See
ls and
filters and pipes.