Backslash Symbol
In the shell, the backslash symbol serves the following purposes:
Suppression of Interpolation
The backslash symbol is be used to prevent [interpolation] of [metacharacters] by the shell. By prefixing the dollar [symbol] with a backslash [metacharacter], we prevent interpolation from taking place:
price=300 echo "Cost is $price dollars" # Without the backslash $price is output as 300 echo "Cost is \$price dollars" # Interpolation of $price does not take place