backslash
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backslash
The symbol (\) used as a separator between folder and file names in DOS and Windows. For example, the path to the Windows version of this encyclopedia is c:\"program files"\CDEweb\CDEweb.exe, which points to the CDEweb.exe file in the CDEweb folder within the Program Files folder on the C: drive.
An Unfortunate Symbol
While the backslash (\) is used in Windows addresses, the forward slash (/) is used in Internet addresses, which are Unix based. In addition, the backslash key is in a non-standard keyboard location.
Windows followed DOS, which was modeled after CP/M, and CP/M used the forward slash for command line parameters without regard to Unix path compatibility (Unix was big iron at the time, and CP/M was for personal computers). Thus we are stuck with two different symbols to separate file and folder names.
Double Backslashes (\\)
Two backslashes are used as a prefix to a server name (hostname). For example, \\a5\c\expenses is the path to the EXPENSES folder on the C: drive on server A5. See UNC, \\, path and forward slash.
Platform Path to Ovens Folder
Windows: \products\kitchen\ovens
Unix/Linux,
Mac OS X: /products/kitchen/ovens
Path to Ovens Page
Internet: greatproducts.com/kitchen/ovens
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Barron's Business Dictionary:
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backslash
The character \ as compared to the forward slash / .
Backslashes are used mainly in DOS, where they separate the names of subdirectories.
Backslashes are used mainly in DOS, where they separate the names of subdirectories.
| Backlog, Backlit, Background Processing | |
| Backup, Backup Withholding, Backward Vertical Integration |
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'backslash'
- Software, Languages, and Programming - backslash: oblique stroke slanted to left, used as delimiter in some computer operating systems
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Backslash
The backslash (\) is a typographical mark (glyph) used mainly in computing and is the mirror image of the common slash. It is sometimes called a reverse solidus, slosh, hack, escape (from C/UNIX), reverse slash, backslant, backwhack, bash, reverse slant, reversed virgule, and backslat.[1][2] In Unicode, it is encoded at U+005C \ reverse solidus (HTML: \).
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Contents
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History
"\/" redirects here. For the letter, see V.
Bob Bemer introduced the "\" character into ASCII[3] on September 18, 1961,[4] as the result of character frequency studies. In particular the \ was introduced so that the ALGOL boolean operators ∧ (AND) and ∨ (OR) could be composed in ASCII as "/\" and "\/" respectively.[5][4] Both these operators were included in early versions of the C programming language supplied with Unix V6 , Unix V7 and more currently BSD 2.11.
Usage
In many programming languages such as C and Perl and in Unix scripting languages, the backslash is used to indicate that the character following it should be treated specially (if it would otherwise be treated normally), or normally (if it would otherwise be treated specially). It is sometimes referred to as a knock-down or escape character. In various regular expression languages it acts as a switch, changing literal characters into metacharacters and vice versa. The backslash is used similarly in the TeX typesetting system and in RTF files to begin markup tags. In Haskell, the backslash is used both to introduce special characters and to introduce lambda functions (since it is a reasonable approximation in ASCII of the Greek letter lambda, λ).
In the context of line-oriented text, especially source code for some programming languages, it is often used at the end of a line to indicate that the trailing newline character should be ignored, so that the following line is treated as if it were part of the current line. In this context it may be called a "continuation". The GNU make manual says, "We split each long line into two lines using backslash-newline; this is like using one long line, but is easier to read."[6]
The Microsoft core Windows API can accept either the backslash or slash to separate directory and file components of a path, but the Microsoft convention is to use a backslash, and APIs that return paths use backslashes.[7] MS-DOS 2.0, released 1983, copied the hierarchical file system from Unix and thus used the forward slash, but (possibly on the insistence of IBM) added the backslash to allow paths to be typed into the command shell while retaining compatibility with MS-DOS 1.0 and CP/M where the slash was the command-line option indicator (i.e. as in typing "dir/w" to give the "wide" option to the "dir" command).[8] Although the command shell was the only part of MS-DOS that required this, the use of backslash in filenames was propagated to most other parts of the user interface. Today, although the underlying operating system supports either character, many Windows programs and sub-systems do not accept the slash as a path delimiter or may misinterpret it if it is used as such. Some programs will only accept forward slashes if the path is placed in double-quotes.[9] Failures of Microsoft security features to recognize unexpected-direction slashes in local and internet paths, while other parts of the operating system still act upon them, have led to some serious lapses in security. Resources that should not be available have been accessed with paths using particular mixes, such as http://example.net/secure\private.aspx.[10][11]
In the Japanese encodings ISO 646 (a 7-bit code based on ASCII), JIS X 0201 (an 8-bit code) and Shift JIS (a multi-byte encoding which is 8-bit for ASCII) the code point 0x5C that would be used for backslash in ASCII is instead rendered as a yen mark (¥), while in Korean encoding, it is drawn as a won currency symbol (₩). Computer programs still treat the code as a backslash in these environments, causing confusion, especially in MS-DOS filenames.[12] Due to extensive use of the backslash code to represent the yen mark, even today some Unicode fonts like MS Mincho render the backslash character as a ¥, so the Unicode characters 00A5 (¥) and 005C (\) look identical when these fonts are selected. Several other ISO 646 versions also replace backslash with characters like Ö (German, Swedish), Ø (Danish, Norwegian), ç (French) and Ñ (Spanish), though these seem not to have caused such widespread problems.
In mathematics, a backslash-like symbol is used for the set difference.
In some dialects of the BASIC programming language, the backslash is used as an operator symbol to indicate integer division.
In MATLAB and GNU Octave the backslash is used for left matrix divide, while the slash is for right matrix divide.
References
- ^ Macquarie Dictionary (3rd edition)
- ^ Raymond, Eric S. "ASCII". http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/A/ASCII.html.
- ^ Mini-Biography of Bob Bemer
- ^ a b "How ASCII Got Its Backslash", Bob Bemer
- ^ Bob Bemer (2002-07-07). "The Great Curly Brace Trace Chase". Computer History Vignettes. Bob Bemer. http://home.ccil.org/~remlaps/www.bobbemer.com/BRACES.HTM. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
- ^ GNU 'make' manual
- ^ "Path.GetFullPath Method". .NET Framework Class Library. Microsoft Corporation. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.path.getfullpath.aspx. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
- ^ Why is the DOS path character "\"?
- ^ "When did Windows start accepting forward slash as a path separator?". Bytes.com. http://bytes.com/groups/python/23123-when-did-windows-start-accepting-forward-slash-path-separator. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
- ^ Kaplan, Simone (2004). "Microsoft Probes Flaw in ASP.NET". DevSource, sponsored by Microsoft. Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc.. http://www.devsource.com/c/a/Using-VS/Microsoft-Probes-Flaw-in-ASPNET/. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
- ^ Burnett, Mark (2004). "Security Holes That Run Deep". SecurityFocus. http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/285. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
- ^ When is a backslash not a backslash?
External links
- Larry Osterman (2005-06-24), Why is the DOS path character "\"?
- Bob Bemer, How ASCII got its backslash
- Backslash Definition by The Linux Information Project (LINFO)
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
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Backslash
Français (French)
n. - (Typ) barre oblique inversée
Deutsch (German)
n. - umgekehrter Schrägstrich
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ανάποδη κάθετος
Italiano (Italian)
diagonale rovesciata
Português (Portuguese)
n. - contrabarra (f)
Русский (Russian)
обратный знак - \
Español (Spanish)
n. - barra inclinada hacia atrás
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - backslash
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
反斜线符号
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 反斜線符號
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - バックスラッシュ, 逆スラッシュ
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - לוכסן שראשו בצד שמאל: \
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