[SOLVED] what does the slash mean?

[gaot_tt]

Hi

I'm poor unix guy, I have the following command.

find . -name '*.xml' -exec grep -H aname {} \;

Can some one please tell me what does the "\" mean.

Thanks very much

[techieMoe]

I can't say for sure, but usually a forward slash is used as a delimiter to tell text parsers to ignore the next character. For instance, you can use this to create directories with spaces in their names:

mkdir This\ is\ a\ test\ directory/

[vsemaska]

techieMoe,

You're refering to the backslash not the forward slash. The backslash (\) is known as the escape character. It preserves the literal value of the next character that follows.

gaot_tt,

The semi-colon( ; ) usually signifies the end of a command. By placing a backslash in front of it makes it part of the find command which in this case signifies then end of the -exec option.

[techieMoe]

techieMoe,

You're refering to the backslash not the forward slash. The backslash (\) is known as the escape character. It preserves the literal value of the next character that follows.

I can never remember which is which.

[gaot_tt]

I gooled a lot, and finally got an answer here.

Really appreciate it.