B

Printable ASCII characters
~	!	@	#	$	%	^	&	*	(	)	_	+	space
`	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	-	=	{	}	|
	Qq	Ww	Ee	Rr	Tt	Yy	Uu	Ii	Oo	Pp	:	"	[	]	\
	Aa	Ss	Dd	Ff	Gg	Hh	Jj	Kk	Ll	?	;	'	Ctrl
	Zz	Xx	Cc	Vv	Bb	Nn	Mm	,	.	/	<	>	Alt

In NetHack, the letter B serves the following purposes:

• b represents a blob:
  • b acid blob
  • b quivering blob
  • b gelatinous cube

• B represents a bat or bird:
  • B bat
  • B giant bat
  • B raven
  • B vampire bat

• It is also used as a direction key if numpad movement is off:
  • Press b to move south-west.
  • Press shift + b to move far south-west.

Historical uses

In hack121, a port of Jay Fenlason's Hack, bats and vampire bats used the b glyph, while giant bears used the B glyph. In PDP-11 Hack and Hack 1.0, the B glyph is given to bats, and the b glyph is given to the giant beetle. Both monsters retain their glyph for their appearance in Hack 1.0.

The bat still uses B as its current glyph, while the giant beetle retained its b glyph up to NetHack 2.3e; in NetHack 3.0.0, the blob monster class was created and moved to b, and giant beetles were moved to a with other insects.

Variants

SLASH'EM

SLASH'EM introduces several new monsters that use the b and B glyphs:

• b blob:
  • b jiggling blob
  • b lava blob
  • b static blob
  • b burbling blob

• B bat or bird:
  • B rhumbat
  • B athol
  • B hellbat
  • B mongbat
  • B mobat
  • B harpy
  • B byakhee
  • B nightgaunt

dNetHack

dNetHack introduces several new monsters that use the b and B glyphs:

• b blob:
  • b blob of preserved organs
  • b crystal ooze
  • b blood bloater
  • b shoggoth
  • b priest of Ghaunadaur
  • b mothering mass
  • b coiling brawn
  • b deep blue cube
  • b pitch black cube
  • b perfectly clear cube

• B bat or bird:
  • B parrot
  • B crow
  • B battle-bat
  • B warbat
  • B chiropteran
  • B byakhee