Question: I'm following the tutorial [here](http://compilers.iecc.com/crenshaw/tutor1.txt). Under the heading **The Cradle**, you can see the code: 

```
const TAB = ^I;

```

well this is a pascal code, actually I'm trying to re-implement those pascal code to Java or groovy(so that I can build a kind of compiler using Java or groovy). But what does the above coding statement meant in pascal? 

How I can represent it in Java or Groovy?

Thanks in advance.

Answer: 
The `^I` is simply a short-hand for `Control+I`, which is a representation of ASCII tab character (code 9). On old terminals, pressing (and holding) the control key while pressing a character produced the characters from the ASCII control character range (e.g., Ctrl+A = ASCII 1, ..., Ctrl+M = ASCII 13 = Newline, etc.) 

In Groovy, you should probably use `final char Tab = '\t'`
In Groovy 1.8.4, I settled on simply: 

```
def Tab = '\t'

```

as this kept giving errors: 

```
final char Tab = '\t'

```