noun / adjective
null
A marker indicating that no value is present in computer data.
The database stores a null when the customer provides no address.
Etymology
The source means none. Computing uses null to mark the absence of a value, giving the old idea of nothing present a precise data-handling role.
More examples
- The phone number field is null until you enter a number.
- The report excludes rows with nulls in the price column.
- A null is different from an empty string or zero.
Forms
null · nulls
Similar words
- missing
- Describes absent data without naming a specific stored marker.
- unset
- Describes a value not assigned, not necessarily stored as null.