Fill character:
The fill character is defined as the ASCII representation of the hexadecimal digit 7C hex. It is represented in these MARC Help displays as < | >. It may be used in bibliographic records in fields 007 and 008, and subfield $7 of the linking entry fields (760-787). A fill character may not be used in the leader, or in tags, indicators, or subfield codes.
The use of the fill character in records contributed to a national database is also dependent upon the national level requirements specified for each data element. The presence of a fill character in a record indicates that the format specifies a code to be used but the creator of the record has decided not to attempt to supply a code.
See also: