Differences between revisions 1 and 3 (spanning 2 versions)
⇤ ← Revision 1 as of 2008-02-17 21:24:54 →
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Editor: 80-195-170-174
Comment: Initial import from Mark Hobley's Shell Programming Wiki
← Revision 3 as of 2008-11-22 14:08:30 → ⇥
Size: 532
Editor: localhost
Comment: converted to 1.6 markup
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In the shell, the *backslash* symbol serves the following purposes: In the shell, the '''backslash''' symbol serves the following purposes:
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==== Suppression of Interpolation ==== === Suppression of Interpolation ===
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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

BackSlash (last edited 2008-11-22 14:08:30 by localhost)