Filler text is text that shares some characteristics of a real written text

Written language

A written language is the representation of a language by means of a writing system. Written language is an invention in that it must be taught to children, who will instinctively learn or create spoken or gestural languages....

, but is random or otherwise generated. It may be used to display a sample of font

Typeface

In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....

s, generate text for testing, or to spoof an e-mail spam filter

E-mail filtering

Email filtering is the processing of email to organize it according to specified criteria. Most often this refers to the automatic processing of incoming messages, but the term also applies to the intervention of human intelligence in addition to anti-spam techniques, and to outgoing emails as well...

. The process of using filler text is sometimes called Greeking

Greeking

Greeking is a style of displaying or rendering text or symbols, not always from the Greek alphabet. Greeking obscures portions of a work for the purpose of either emphasizing form over details or displaying placeholders for unavailable content...

, although the text itself may be nonsense, or largely Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

, as in Lorem ipsum

Lorem ipsum

In publishing and graphic design, lorem ipsum[p] is placeholder text commonly used to demonstrate the graphics elements of a document or visual presentation, such as font, typography, and layout...

.

ASDF

ASDF is the sequence of letters that appear on the first four keys on the home row of a QWERTY

QWERTY

QWERTY is the most common modern-day keyboard layout. The name comes from the first six letters appearing in the topleft letter row of the keyboard, read left to right: Q-W-E-R-T-Y. The QWERTY design is based on a layout created for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and sold to Remington in the...

 or QWERTZ

QWERTZ

thumb|175px|A computer QWERTZ keyboardThe QWERTZ or QWERTZU keyboard is a widely used computer and typewriter keyboard layout that is mostly used in Central Europe...

 keyboard. They are often used as a sample or test case or as random, meaningless nonsense. It is also a common learning tool for keyboard classes, since all four keys are located on Home row.

ETAOIN SHRDLU

ETAOIN SHRDLU is the approximate order of frequency of the twelve most commonly used letters in the English language, best known as a nonsense phrase that sometimes appeared in print in the days of "hot type" publishing due to a custom of Linotype machine

Linotype machine

The Linotype typesetting machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o'-type, a significant improvement over manual typesetting....

 operators.

Lorem ipsum

"Lorem ipsum..." is one of the most common filler texts, popular with typesetters and graphic designers. Li Europan lingues

Li Europan lingues

Li Europan lingues is a quotation in Occidental, an international auxiliary language devised by Edgar von Wahl in1922. It is used in some HTML templates as a fill-in or placeholder text.One of the most common placeholder texts is lorem ipsum...

 is another similar example.

Now is the time for all good men

"Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party" is a phrase first proposed as a typing drill by instructor Charles E. Weller. It has appeared in a number of typing books, often in the form "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country."

The phrase is found in The Early History of the Typewriter, p. 21 (1918).

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

A coherent, short phrase that uses every letter of the alphabet. See Pangram

Pangram

A pangram , or holoalphabetic sentence, is a sentence using every letter of the alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and keyboarding...

 for more examples.

Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood

In the print version of the popular United States-based satirical newspaper The Onion

The Onion

The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...

, the sentence "Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood" is often repeated to fill space under a bold-text non sequitur made to appear as if the bolded "quote" has been pulled from an article nearby. This running gag

Running gag

A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....

has been part of The Onion for several years. The passage was eventually used in an actual article in 2008.

CHARGEN

The CHARGEN (character generator) service is an internet protocol.

!"#$%&'*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefgh

"#$%&'*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghi

$%&'*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghij


$%&'*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijk