In computing and telecommunication, a control character or non-printing character is a code point (a number) in a character set, that does not represent a written symbol. They are used as in-band signaling to cause effects other than the addition of a symbol to the text. All other characters are mainly printing, printable, or graphic characters, except perhaps for the "space" character (see ASCII printable characters).

Control is a fictional character created by John le Carré. Control is an intelligence officer who acts as the head of "the Circus", the British overseas intelligence agency. He is a character in the novels The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Looking Glass War, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and is referred to in several others, usually by association with le Carré's recurring protagonist George Smiley, who serves as Control's right-hand man.