Its main use in Unix-like operating systems and in some programming languages (e.g., C and Perl) is as an escape character, that is, to indicate that the following character has a special meaning. …
What does the backslash do in Linux?
A backslash at the end of a line in a shell script makes the shell ignore the newline for the purposes of executing the script. This is normally used to split long lines in a script file into multiple text lines, which will be handeled as a single script line by the shell.
What is backslash used for?
The backslash ( ) is a typographic and/or keyboard mark that is used in some programming languages and other computing contexts. In Windows systems, for example, the backslash is used to separate elements of a file path, for example: C:DocumentsUserFile.
What does backslash in command line mean?
A backslash followed by a newline character means the command continues to the next line. You could remove the backslash and type all of that on the same line if you wanted to.
Does backslash work in Linux?
Linux is a Unix-like operating system, so it uses the same type of slash. Mac OS X is based on BSD, another Unix-like operating system. Other consumer operating systems like Android, Chrome OS, and Steam OS are based on Linux, so they use the same type of slash.
What is backslash in bash?
A non-quoted backslash ‘ ‘ is the Bash escape character. It preserves the literal value of the next character that follows, with the exception of newline .
What is forward slash Linux?
In Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, a forward slash is used to represent the root directory, which is the directory that is at the top of the directory hierarchy and that contains all other directories and files on the system. …
Does backslash MEAN AND or OR?
While the backslash is a specialist, the forward slash is a Jack-of-all-trades. Its most common use is to mean “or” when presenting two alternatives: … The slash here shows that either word could apply. However, you should avoid doing this too often in formal writing, where “or” is a better choice.
Why is it called backslash?
It is called a backslash because it is usually made with a back motion, starting at its top and pulled down and back. Occasionally it was simply called a slash. Along comes computers and DOS. Needing another character, Microsoft invented the forward slash “”, for help in defining pathnames.
Is backslash a special character?
As we’ve seen, a backslash is used to denote character classes, e.g. d . So it’s a special character in regexps (just like in regular strings).
Where is Linux backslash?
Using alt to the right of the space bar (alt gr), plus shift, plus key for / gives backslash .
What is PATH variable in Linux?
The PATH variable is an environment variable that contains an ordered list of paths that Linux will search for executables when running a command. Using these paths means that we do not have to specify an absolute path when running a command. … Thus, Linux uses the first path if two paths contain the desired executable.
Why do Windows and Linux use different slashes?
The reason . NET’s URI uses forward slashes is because it’s formatting for use in a webbrowser. The server will do all the necessary work to link web resources to files on a hard drive. Windows uses the backslash ( ) for the file system delimiter.