(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, OS/2 and Unix, the pipe command is a vertical line (|). For example, in Windows/DOS, the statement, dir | sort directs the output of the directory list to the sort utility. 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, DOS filters & pipes and DOS redirection.