Curly brackets, also known as braces, are punctuation marks that look like this: . They are commonly used in programming languages like Python and Java to group statements or define sets. In mathematics, they can represent a set of numbers, such as 1, 2, 3, indicating that these numbers belong together. In addition to programming and mathematics, curly brackets are sometimes used in writing to indicate options or alternatives. For example, in a sentence, you might see something like "Please choose coffee, tea, or juice." This usage helps clarify choices in a concise manner.