In music notation, a sharp is a tic-tac-toe symbol which indicates that a certain note should be raised a half step. If used in the key signature, it means that note should be raised a half-step whenever it is encountered; if used as an accidental, it means that only that note should be changed.

The half-step increment applies whether it changes the note to a "white key" or not. For instance, A-sharp is the same as B-flat, but B-sharp is the same as C.

A sharp looks like this, when used in the key signature and as an accidental with a half note:


     /\                                               
----| /----#-----------------------------------------------
    |/             # O                                    
----/---------------|--------------------------------------
   /|    #          |                                      
--/-|/\-------------|--------------------------------------
 |  |  |            |                                      
-|--|--|----#----------------------------------------------
  \ |  |                                               
---\|_/----------------------------------------------------
    |                                                  
   \|