duckduckgo
I don't know if this is the correct place to share this, but here goes:
If I search this phrase:
\t _ _\n\t|_||_|\n\t _ _\n\t| |_| |\n\t\\_____/
with DuckDuckGo, it takes me to https://login.i-ready.com/. The phrase is a compressed ascii-art of a smiley face.
Any ideas what on earth causes this strange thing to happen?
I don't even really know if this is suitable for stack exchange, I'm just curious why this happens.
EDIT: It really is random, not just a single website.
When going to the Goodies and selecting the "programming" option, the following can be seen:
If you edit the field where "6GB/700KB/s in min" is mentioned and change it to "15GB/600KB/s in hour", then the following can bee seen:
So then if you type that in the main DDG search field, you get this:
TL;DR: go to http://duckduckgo.com/?kh=-1
You can pass the parameter kh=-1 as stated in DDG's params reference:
Privacy Settings
Redirect: kd = 1 for On; -1 for Off.
HTTPS: kh = 1 for On; -1 for Off.
Best Answer
This is a "feature" called "!Bang"... as documented here: here and here. There is nothing special about this string (try cutting it down), aside from the very first
\.Specifically giving a
!or\at the beginning of your query will have a special effect...!goes to a registered site for quick access, while\goes to the first search result.A couple of examples they give are:
!youtubeor!yt!gIf you type your "query" character by character, then you'll see the autocomplete options appear below.
Fundamentally, entering
\stackexchangein the search box is equivalent to searching forstackexchangeand then immediately clicking the top link.Equally, entering
\t _ _\n\t|_||_|\n\t _ _\n\t| |_| |\n\t\\_____/will take you to the first result of the queryt _ _\n\t|_||_|\n\t _ _\n\t| |_| |\n\t\\_____/.