place-holder
nounUK /ˈpleɪsˌhəʊl.dər/
US /ˈpleɪsˌhoʊl.dɚ/
A place-holder is something that stays in a spot until the real thing comes.
She put a place-holder on the table so everyone would know where to sit.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. A symbol or piece of text used in a document that will be replaced later.
The template uses a place-holder for the user's name.
3. A person who does a job temporarily until someone else is chosen.
He was just a place-holder until the new manager arrived.
4. In computing, a value or variable that stands in for data to be filled in later.
The code uses a place-holder for the file path.