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Caret notation is a notation for control characters in ASCII. The notation assigns ^A to control-code 1, sequentially through the alphabet to ^Z assigned to control-code 26 (0x1A). For the control-codes outside of the range 1–26, the notation extends to the adjacent, non-alphabetic ASCII characters.
Often a control character can be typed on a keyboard by holding down the Ctrl and typing the character shown after the caret. The notation is often used to describe keyboard shortcuts even though the control character is not actually used (as in "type ^X to cut the text").
The meaning or interpretation of, or response to the individual control-codes is not prescribed by the caret notation.