diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 77303a0..ba35836 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ Example
     >>> t.contains_word("dogg")
     False
     >>> t.root
-    {'d': {'o': {'g': {'!THIS_IS_THE_END!': {'word': 'dog'}, 's': {'!THIS_IS_THE_END!': {'word': 'dogs'}}, 'g': {'y': {'!THIS_IS_THE_END!': {'word': 'doggy'}}}}}}}
+    {'d': {'o': {'g': {'\0': {'word': 'dog'}, 's': {'\0': {'word': 'dogs'}}, 'g': {'y': {'\0': {'word': 'doggy'}}}}}}}
 
 
 Unit Testing
diff --git a/trie/trie.py b/trie/trie.py
index 96f3fdb..4bd31f7 100644
--- a/trie/trie.py
+++ b/trie/trie.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ class TriePy(object):
 
     """
     # A terminator to represent and end of a path
-    __TRIE_TERMINATOR = '!THIS_IS_THE_END!'
+    __TRIE_TERMINATOR = '\0'
 
     def __init__(self):
         """

change default TRIE_TERMINATOR default
'!THIS_IS_THE_END!' was _really_ just an example. Using a \0 terminator makes the most sense. Let's do that.
diff --git a/tests/test_trie.py b/tests/test_trie.py
index 0b3aa6b..7b1fa5e 100644
--- a/tests/test_trie.py
+++ b/tests/test_trie.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ def test_abc_add_word():
     my_test = {"a":
                     {"b": 
                         {"c": 
-                            {"!THIS_IS_THE_END!":
+                            {"\0":
                                 {"word": "abc"}
                             }
                         }
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ def test_asterisk_add_word():
     my_test = {"*":
                 {"x":
                     {"*":
-                        { "z":
-                            {"!THIS_IS_THE_END!":
+                        {"z":
+                            {"\0":
                                 {"word": "*x*z"}
                             }
                         }

pip install -e .
parse_log_pytest
pytest
nose pytest
3.9
pytest --no-header -rA --tb=line --color=no -p no:cacheprovider -W ignore::DeprecationWarning
exceptiongroup @ file:///croot/exceptiongroup_1706031385326/work
iniconfig @ file:///home/linux1/recipes/ci/iniconfig_1610983019677/work
nose==1.3.7
packaging @ file:///croot/packaging_1734472117206/work
pluggy @ file:///croot/pluggy_1733169602837/work
pytest @ file:///croot/pytest_1738938843180/work
tomli @ file:///opt/conda/conda-bld/tomli_1657175507142/work
-e git+https://github.com/drincruz/python-trie.git@57d83c22c0f5eb9faa10a54c138c4e2e5a0f88d8#egg=TriePy

name: python-trie
channels:
  - defaults
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r
  - conda-forge
dependencies:
  - _libgcc_mutex=0.1=main
  - _openmp_mutex=5.1=1_gnu
  - ca-certificates=2025.2.25=h06a4308_0
  - exceptiongroup=1.2.0=py39h06a4308_0
  - iniconfig=1.1.1=pyhd3eb1b0_0
  - ld_impl_linux-64=2.40=h12ee557_0
  - libffi=3.4.4=h6a678d5_1
  - libgcc-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libgomp=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libstdcxx-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - ncurses=6.4=h6a678d5_0
  - openssl=3.0.16=h5eee18b_0
  - packaging=24.2=py39h06a4308_0
  - pip=25.0=py39h06a4308_0
  - pluggy=1.5.0=py39h06a4308_0
  - pytest=8.3.4=py39h06a4308_0
  - python=3.9.21=he870216_1
  - readline=8.2=h5eee18b_0
  - setuptools=75.8.0=py39h06a4308_0
  - sqlite=3.45.3=h5eee18b_0
  - tk=8.6.14=h39e8969_0
  - tomli=2.0.1=py39h06a4308_0
  - tzdata=2025a=h04d1e81_0
  - wheel=0.45.1=py39h06a4308_0
  - xz=5.6.4=h5eee18b_1
  - zlib=1.2.13=h5eee18b_1
  - pip:
      - nose==1.3.7
prefix: /opt/conda/envs/python-trie

tests/test_trie.py::test_abc_add_word tests/test_trie.py::test_asterisk_add_word
tests/test_trie.py::test_contains_true tests/test_trie.py::test_contains_false
README.md trie/trie.py
README.md trie/trie.py