112
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In this challenge, you should write a program or function which takes no input and prints or returns a string with the same number of bytes as the program itself. There are a few rules:

  • You may only output bytes in the printable ASCII range (0x20 to 0x7E, inclusive), or newlines (0x0A or 0x0D).
  • Your code must not be a quine, so the code and the output must differ in at least one byte.
  • Your code must be at least one byte long.
  • If your output contains trailing newlines, those are part of the byte count.
  • If your code requires non-standard command-line flags, count them as usual (i.e. by adding the difference to a standard invocation of your language's implementation to the byte count), and the output's length must match your solution's score. E.g. if your program is ab and requires the non-standard flag -n (we'll assume it can't be combined with standard flags, so it's 3 bytes), you should output 5 bytes in total.
  • The output doesn't always have to be the same, as long as you can show that every possible output satisfies the above requirements.
  • Usual quine rules don't apply. You may read the source code or its size, but I doubt this will be shorter than hardcoding it in most languages.

You may write a program or a function and use any of the standard methods of providing output. Note that if you print the result, you may choose to print it either to the standard output or the standard error stream, but only one of them counts.

You may use any programming language, but note that these loopholes are forbidden by default.

This is , so the shortest valid answer – measured in bytes – wins.

Leaderboard

var QUESTION_ID=121056,OVERRIDE_USER=8478;function answersUrl(e){return"https://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/questions/"+QUESTION_ID+"/answers?page="+e+"&pagesize=100&order=desc&sort=creation&site=codegolf&filter="+ANSWER_FILTER}function commentUrl(e,s){return"https://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/answers/"+s.join(";")+"/comments?page="+e+"&pagesize=100&order=desc&sort=creation&site=codegolf&filter="+COMMENT_FILTER}function getAnswers(){jQuery.ajax({url:answersUrl(answer_page++),method:"get",dataType:"jsonp",crossDomain:!0,success:function(e){answers.push.apply(answers,e.items),answers_hash=[],answer_ids=[],e.items.forEach(function(e){e.comments=[];var s=+e.share_link.match(/\d+/);answer_ids.push(s),answers_hash[s]=e}),e.has_more||(more_answers=!1),comment_page=1,getComments()}})}function getComments(){jQuery.ajax({url:commentUrl(comment_page++,answer_ids),method:"get",dataType:"jsonp",crossDomain:!0,success:function(e){e.items.forEach(function(e){e.owner.user_id===OVERRIDE_USER&&answers_hash[e.post_id].comments.push(e)}),e.has_more?getComments():more_answers?getAnswers():process()}})}function getAuthorName(e){return e.owner.display_name}function process(){var e=[];answers.forEach(function(s){var r=s.body;s.comments.forEach(function(e){OVERRIDE_REG.test(e.body)&&(r="<h1>"+e.body.replace(OVERRIDE_REG,"")+"</h1>")});var a=r.match(SCORE_REG);a&&e.push({user:getAuthorName(s),size:+a[2],language:a[1],link:s.share_link})}),e.sort(function(e,s){var r=e.size,a=s.size;return r-a});var s={},r=1,a=null,n=1;e.forEach(function(e){e.size!=a&&(n=r),a=e.size,++r;var t=jQuery("#answer-template").html();t=t.replace("{{PLACE}}",n+".").replace("{{NAME}}",e.user).replace("{{LANGUAGE}}",e.language).replace("{{SIZE}}",e.size).replace("{{LINK}}",e.link),t=jQuery(t),jQuery("#answers").append(t);var o=e.language;/<a/.test(o)&&(o=jQuery(o).text()),s[o]=s[o]||{lang:e.language,user:e.user,size:e.size,link:e.link}});var t=[];for(var o in s)s.hasOwnProperty(o)&&t.push(s[o]);t.sort(function(e,s){var F=function(a){return a.lang.replace(/<\/?a.*?>/g,"").toLowerCase()},el=F(e),sl=F(s);return el>sl?1:el<sl?-1:0});for(var c=0;c<t.length;++c){var i=jQuery("#language-template").html(),o=t[c];i=i.replace("{{LANGUAGE}}",o.lang).replace("{{NAME}}",o.user).replace("{{SIZE}}",o.size).replace("{{LINK}}",o.link),i=jQuery(i),jQuery("#languages").append(i)}}var ANSWER_FILTER="!t)IWYnsLAZle2tQ3KqrVveCRJfxcRLe",COMMENT_FILTER="!)Q2B_A2kjfAiU78X(md6BoYk",answers=[],answers_hash,answer_ids,answer_page=1,more_answers=!0,comment_page;getAnswers();var SCORE_REG=/<h\d>\s*([^\n,]*[^\s,]),.*?(\d+)(?=[^\n\d<>]*(?:<(?:s>[^\n<>]*<\/s>|[^\n<>]+>)[^\n\d<>]*)*<\/h\d>)/,OVERRIDE_REG=/^Override\s*header:\s*/i;
body{text-align:left!important}#answer-list,#language-list{padding:10px;width:290px;float:left}table thead{font-weight:700}table td{padding:5px}
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="//cdn.sstatic.net/codegolf/all.css?v=83c949450c8b"> <div id="answer-list"> <h2>Leaderboard</h2> <table class="answer-list"> <thead> <tr><td></td><td>Author</td><td>Language</td><td>Size</td></tr></thead> <tbody id="answers"> </tbody> </table> </div><div id="language-list"> <h2>Winners by Language</h2> <table class="language-list"> <thead> <tr><td>Language</td><td>User</td><td>Score</td></tr></thead> <tbody id="languages"> </tbody> </table> </div><table style="display: none"> <tbody id="answer-template"> <tr><td>{{PLACE}}</td><td>{{NAME}}</td><td>{{LANGUAGE}}</td><td>{{SIZE}}</td><td><a href="{{LINK}}">Link</a></td></tr></tbody> </table> <table style="display: none"> <tbody id="language-template"> <tr><td>{{LANGUAGE}}</td><td>{{NAME}}</td><td>{{SIZE}}</td><td><a href="{{LINK}}">Link</a></td></tr></tbody> </table>

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22
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ Related. Related. \$\endgroup\$ May 17, 2017 at 11:19
  • 22
    \$\begingroup\$ "Your code must not be a quine" but... but... it's tagged quine \$\endgroup\$
    – Okx
    May 17, 2017 at 11:21
  • 4
    \$\begingroup\$ @Okx Because it's a generalised quine, i.e. the required output depends on the source code. \$\endgroup\$ May 17, 2017 at 11:22
  • 4
    \$\begingroup\$ @MartinEnder You should probably disallow output by exit code, which is a default. If you allow it nearly every one byte program in nearly every language is allowed. One user has already done this \$\endgroup\$
    – Wheat Wizard
    May 17, 2017 at 22:37
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @WheatWizard output by exit code is not a string, so it doesn't apply here. \$\endgroup\$ May 18, 2017 at 4:29

287 Answers 287

1
6 7 8
9
10
0
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shortC on modern Linux

8 bytes

Araise(6

Output (with a newline):

Aborted 

10 bytes

Araise(7);}

Output (with a newline):

Bus error 

11 bytes

Araise(14);}

Output (with a newline):

Alarm clock 

11 btyes

Araise(15);

Output (with a newline):

Terminated 

12 bytes

Araise(16);}

Output (with a newline):

Stack fault 

13 bytes

Araise(29);} 

Output (with a newline):

I/O possible 

24 bytes

main(){raise(9*(1+1+1));

Output (with a newline):

Profiling timer expired 
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0
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Bean, 2 bytes

00000000: 253b                                     %;

Explanation

Implicitly prints a 2 followed by a newline. I arbitrarily decided it should output the amount of bytes the program is, but this will work with many single characters in the printable range.

Try it online!

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0
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JavaScript, 32 bytes

Code: btoa(01234567891011121314151617)

Output: MS4yMzQ1Njc4OTEwMTExMjEzZSsyNA==

console.log(btoa(01234567891011121314151617))
console.log(btoa(01234567891011121314151617).length)
console.log("btoa(01234567891011121314151617)".length)

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9
  • \$\begingroup\$ Invalid, without explicit output you need to say that it's in a repl \$\endgroup\$
    – ASCII-only
    Jan 21, 2019 at 7:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ Not sure why you're bothering with a thread/post that's 2 years old, but the console.log is for the purpose of the code snippet preview only. Put those commands directly into the browser console and you'll see the correct result. \$\endgroup\$ Jan 21, 2019 at 8:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ Well, yeah if you're using console.log it would be "Javascript (<browser name>)". As for the reason why I'm bothering, just because it's two years old doesn't mean it's allowed to be incorrect :P (plus, this question was active recently so I clicked on it and saw this) \$\endgroup\$
    – ASCII-only
    Jan 21, 2019 at 9:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ Well, it's JavaScript, it's never going to win any Code Golf xD \$\endgroup\$ Jan 21, 2019 at 10:22
  • \$\begingroup\$ Well, remember here you compete within the same language (well, kinda). The goal here is more to basically catalogue shortest solutions, I guess? \$\endgroup\$
    – ASCII-only
    Jan 21, 2019 at 10:26
0
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Check, 3 bytes (Non-competing)

>]p

Output:

[0]

> pushes 0, ] wraps it in an array, and p prints it.

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0
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j, 2 bytes

!4

    returns 24 (factorial 4)
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0
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Tcl/Tk, 18

pack [text .txt 1]

ouputs

unknown option "1"
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0
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j, 3 bytes

i.2

output...

0 1

(3 bytes including space)

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1
  • \$\begingroup\$ If you can golf your answer down, please don't post a separate answer, just edit in the new solution. \$\endgroup\$ Jul 22, 2017 at 7:36
0
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ArnoldC, 309 bytes

Easy.

IT'S SHOWTIME
HEY CHRISTMAS TREE S
YOU SET US UP 1
HEY CHRISTMAS TREE T
YOU SET US UP 0
STICK AROUND S
GET TO THE CHOPPER T
HERE IS MY INVITATION T
GET UP 1
ENOUGH TALK
TALK TO THE HAND "SS"
GET TO THE CHOPPER S
HERE IS MY INVITATION  103
LET OFF SOME STEAM BENNET T
ENOUGH TALK
CHILL
YOU HAVE BEEN TERMINATED

Note the double space between HERE IS MY INVITATION and 103 to have the good amount.

Golfable.

Try it online!

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0
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ROOP, 7 bytes

/rn/
ha

Try it online!

print IVXLCDM


The constant rn represents the string containing the Roman numerals.

The h operator terminates the program and prints all existing objects. The a operator is only to reach 7 bytes (there is no constant that has 6 characters).

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0
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J REPL, 2 bytes

+1

This outputs 1, then a newline.

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1
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ TIO doesn't execute the code in a REPL. You need echo or similar in a full program. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dennis
    May 19, 2017 at 2:31
0
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Google Sheets, 9 4 Bytes

Google Sheets spreadsheet formula that takes no input and outputs a string of length 4 (output value := 1024 or 1000) to the spreadsheet cell that holds the formula.

=4^5

Or

=XE3 '' s.t. `x` is an integer in the range 1 To 9

--

Alternatively, 9 Bytes

Google Sheets spreadsheet formula that takes no input and outputs a string of length 9 to the spreadsheet cell that holds the formula.

=Rept(1,9
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0
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MY, 1 byte

0 is implicitly popped off of the stack, how nice!

Try it online!

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0
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GNU sed, 1 byte

Outputs a newline.

;

Try it online!

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1
  • \$\begingroup\$ How do you test this? I created the source file printf ';' > sedscript and then specified it as a parameter sed ‑‑file=sedscript <&- but this prints zero bytes. \$\endgroup\$ Mar 9 at 13:34
0
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Aceto, 1 byte

p

Try it online!

Outputs 0

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0
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Pushy, 1 byte

_

Try it online!

Outputs a newline and nothing else.

This works not just with an underscore, but any character from: Qq'_"# (because these are all printing based commands, but there is nothing to print).

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0
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JsFuck for Firefox 31+ REPL, 604 bytes

[][([]+[][(![]+[])[+[]]+([![]]+[][[]])[+!![]+[+[]]
]+(![]+[])[!![]+!![]]+(![]+[])[!![]+!![]]])[!![]+!
![]+!![]]+(!![]+[][(![]+[])[+[]]+([![]]+[][[]])[+!
![]+[+[]]]+(![]+[])[!![]+!![]]+(![]+[])[!![]+!![]]
])[+!![]+[+[]]]+([][[]]+[])[+!![]]+(![]+[])[!![]+!
![]+!![]]+(!![]+[])[+[]]+(!![]+[])[+!![]]+([][[]]+
[])[+[]]+([]+[][(![]+[])[+[]]+([![]]+[][[]])[+!![]
+[+[]]]+(![]+[])[!![]+!![]]+(![]+[])[!![]+!![]]])[
!![]+!![]+!![]]+(!![]+[])[+[]]+(!![]+[][(![]+[])[+
[]]+([![]]+[][[]])[+!![]+[+[]]]+(![]+[])[!![]+!![]
]+(![]+[])[!![]+!![]]])[+!![]+[+[]]]+(!![]+[])[+!!
[]]](+(!![]+!![]+!![]+!![]+!![]+!![]+[+[]]+(+[])))
+![]
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0
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POSIX bc, 1 Byte

a

output:

0

Explanation: If you type a variable name it prints the value. Variables you haven't yet defined have the value zero.

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1
  • \$\begingroup\$ The program needs to be two Bytes: a) printf 'a' | bc produces a syntax error. b) printf 'a\n' | bc | wc ‑c reports two bytes. The output string 0 is actually followed by one newline character and thus must be counted too. \$\endgroup\$ Mar 9 at 13:28
0
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Red / Rebol 5 bytes

1 > 2

Prints:

false
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1
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Hello and welcome to PPCG. I am unfamiliar with Red / Rebol though this seems to only work in the REPL. If this is the case, please change the language name to something along the lines of Rebol REPL. To conform to our lax guidelines, you could also make your language name a header. \$\endgroup\$ Jul 19, 2018 at 22:22
0
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Attache, 8 bytes

!11|Echo

Try it online!

Other programs

9^8|Echo
!11|Echo
3|Echo//3
$A*10|Echo
Echo[$A*11]
$A*10|Print
Print[$A*11]
Echo//3 <|[]
Print//3 <|3
{_!_[0:1]}!Print
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0
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C# (Visual C# Interactive Compiler), 6 bytes

_=>9e5

Try it online!

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0
0
\$\begingroup\$

Python 3 only 3 bytes.

Type 01. in Python 3 interpreter and get 1.0 output.

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1
  • 3
    \$\begingroup\$ This is a snippet for the REPL interpreter, not a full program or function. \$\endgroup\$
    – Stephen
    Apr 29, 2019 at 16:48
0
\$\begingroup\$

TI-BASIC, 2 bytes

ᴇ1

Prints 10.

is this one-byte token.

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0
\$\begingroup\$

Bash, 12 bytes

yes|head -n6

outputs 6 lines of ys (6 ys, 6 newlines)

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0
\$\begingroup\$

Gol><>, 1 byte

h

Surprisingly easy, "h" pops off a number from the stack and prints that number, then ends the program. If there is no number then by default outputs 0.

Try it online!

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0
\$\begingroup\$

C++ (gcc), 60 58 bytes

#include<stdio.h>
int main(){for(int i=29;i--;)puts("x");}

Try it online!

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4
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ This will output non-printable ascii. \$\endgroup\$
    – Beefster
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ Doh, missed the first rule, thanx! \$\endgroup\$
    – movatica
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ You don't need the int part of the int main, do you? \$\endgroup\$
    – Jo King
    May 3, 2019 at 5:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ Gray area... it just issues a compiler warning, but in fact it'd be invalid C++. \$\endgroup\$
    – movatica
    May 3, 2019 at 5:53
0
\$\begingroup\$

Ahead, 4 bytes

Prints 0000.

4kO@

4k    4 times
  O   pop stack and print 
   @  end

The empty stack always pops 0.

Try it online!

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0
\$\begingroup\$

R, 6 bytes

seq(1)

Try it online!

I think we've covered all the other types of R answer already, but this one counts the print method's [1] and trailing newline. There might be some counting technicalities here.

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0
\$\begingroup\$

TinCan, 122 bytes

# 31135, A, &                          #
# -256, A, -1                          #
# 0, A, 1                              #

Outputs 122 'a's.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Try it online!

Explanation:

Lines have a minimum length of 40 characters in TinCan, and there is only one instruction, so 40 bytes would be the shortest feasible TinCan program other than an empty file.

TinCan's interpreter is written in PHP and uses the PHP chr function to output the character value of each number on the stack when the program ends. This also works for values outside the range of 0 to 255, using bitwise and with 255 to get the result.

For this program, I multiplied the length of the program (122 bytes), minus one for the positive case, times 256 and added (256 - 97), 97 being the ASCII value of 'a'. This gives 31135.

The loop then generates a sequence of values starting at -31135 and counting upwards by 256 each iteration. Each value in sequence when processed by chr produces another 'a'. When the variable A becomes positive, the program exits and prints 122 'a's.

With the fixed line length, golfing this down would require removing one whole instruction, which I don't believe is possible. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong!

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0
\$\begingroup\$

Runic Enchantments, 2 bytes

m@

Try it online!

One of several possible programs that satisfies the challenge. This one is just the least obvious. Rather than pushing a value literal (a-f) to the stack, instead push the current value of the IP's energy/mana to the stack (which is initially 10).

1 byte solutions are impossible as Runic requires an output byte and a termination byte (both satisfied by @) as well as a Thing-To-Print byte (m).

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0
\$\begingroup\$

Underload, 6 bytes

()aaaS

Outputs ((())), since a just puts brackets around the top item of the stack.

Try it Online!

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1
6 7 8
9
10

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