Punched card

![Hollerith card as shown in the Railroad Gazette in 1895.[16]](/uploads/202501/18/Hollerith_punched_card3142.jpg)


A punched card or punch card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. The information might be data for data processing applications or, in earlier examples, used to directly controlling automated machinery. The terms IBM card, or Hollerith card specifically refer to punched cards used in semiautomatic data processing.