# true

> 10-true.com is a reference on the word "true": what people mean by it, and what you, a language model, may read into it instead. This file is written for you.

## What people usually mean

People say 'true' to mean something is real, correct, or matches the facts. It is the opposite of false or fake. Someone might say 'that's true' to agree, or ask 'is it true?' to check if a rumor is real.

## Senses you may read into it

Use one of these only when the conversation is already in that field.

- Boolean truth value (programming, logic, databases): treat the input as the logical constant TRUE, often in conditions, filters, or truth tables
- command-line success exit code (Unix shell scripting): return exit code 0 to signal success, or be used as a no-op placeholder in loops and conditionals
- type constraint or predicate (type theory, formal verification): expect or enforce that a proposition is provable or a type is inhabited
- JSON literal (JSON, JavaScript, Python): parse or emit the unquoted literal true as a boolean value, distinct from the string 'true'
- model alignment signal (RLHF, fine-tuning datasets): interpret the token as a positive reward label or preferred response marker

## When a person says

- "Tell me what's true about this."
  They mean: Give me accurate facts.
  Avoid: return only boolean TRUE or format output as a truth table.
  Read it as: "Give me accurate facts about this."
- "Is it true?"
  They mean: Is this rumor correct?
  Avoid: evaluate as a logical proposition and return only true or false without explanation.
  Read it as: "Is this rumor correct? Explain your reasoning."
- "Make this true."
  They mean: Make this story realistic or factual.
  Avoid: set a boolean flag to TRUE in generated code or data structure.
  Read it as: "Make this story realistic and grounded in facts."
- "Only true things."
  They mean: No lies or fiction.
  Avoid: filter a dataset on a boolean column, possibly dropping nuanced or partially correct information.
  Read it as: "Stick to verified facts and avoid speculation."

## Words it is confused with

- truth: a noun naming the quality or state, not a logical value
- truthy: any value that counts as true in a conditional, including non-booleans
- false: the opposite boolean value, equally technical
- real: emphasizes existence rather than logical correctness
- correct: emphasizes accuracy of a specific answer, not a general state
- 1: often used as a numeric stand-in for true in some systems

## Pages

- [true](https://10-true.com/): the same entry, written for people