# dot in wikipedia search box

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dot-in-wikipedia-search-box/422432>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 12, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dot-in-wikipedia-search-box/422432 "2007-10-12T03:59:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dot-in-wikipedia-search-box/422432/1 "2007-10-12T03:59:29Z")

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Using Firefox for Mac, I get a tiny dot in the wikipedia search box that moves as you type text in it.

Any clue why that’s there?!

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**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dot-in-wikipedia-search-box/422432/2 "2007-10-12T04:26:42Z")

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No idea, but I get it on Firefox for Windows. It looks like a “`” to me. It’d been bothering me as well.

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dot-in-wikipedia-search-box/422432/3 "2007-10-12T04:30:57Z")

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It’s part of the oddly-shaped insertion point. It blinks with the vertical line it’s attached to. Dunno why it’s not a simple vertical line or an I-bar like Word uses, but I think that’s all there is to it.

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**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dot-in-wikipedia-search-box/422432/4 "2007-10-12T04:34:30Z")

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I’m using Firefox for WinXP and no funny blinky insertion point for me. I get a plain blinky vertical line. Are you sure ya’ll don’t have a fly speck on your monitor. 😉

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dot-in-wikipedia-search-box/422432/5 "2007-10-12T13:56:43Z")

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It’s the BiDi (bidirectional) caret. It appears in Firefox whenever the text input you’re working in is formatted to accept right-to-left languages, like Arabic or Hebrew.

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**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dot-in-wikipedia-search-box/422432/6 "2007-10-12T14:27:47Z")

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[QUOTE=Q.E.D.]  
It’s the BiDi (bidirectional) caret. It appears in Firefox whenever the text input you’re working in is formatted to accept right-to-left languages, like Arabic or Hebrew.  
[/QUOTE]  
Jimminy Cricket, what people on this board know! (I too, use Firefox, and have seen that symbol in other text boxes, and was curious.)