Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi All,

print "path/executable_file parameters" \
> path/file1
print "path/executable_file parameters" \
> path/file2
print "path/executable_file parameters" \
> path/file3


chmod 775 path/file1 \
path/file2 \
path/file3

could you please let me know how the back slash will be useful and its effect in using in the shell script.
please explain how its working in the above print and chmod.

i read some documents about back slash

"preceding the same string with a backslash, \, also removes the special meaning of a character, or string".

i am not getting what it is actually doing.
please let me know.

Thanks.

print "path/executable_file parameters" \
> path/file1
=
print "path/executable_file parameters" > path/file1

Nothing more...
(Someone supposed the line was too long...)

Hi vbe,

Thanks for your update.

i read some documents about back slash, i am not clear with the below statement
"preceding the same string with a backslash, \, also removes the special meaning of a character, or string".

what it means.

There are some special characters in Unix for ex :" $ & \ ~"
putting a \ before a special character inverts the special meaning of a character. so it is getting a simple ascii text

Code:

sptmw@mwvm:~$ echo ~
/home/sptmw
sptmw@mwvm:~$ echo \~
~

also the are simple ascii letters which can be turned to special characters by putting a \ in front
echo \b hello
in some terminals causes bold text

and one line \[ENTER]
second line

means ignore the [ENTER] Key an handle everything as one line

If you have a file named "this$file" (the $ is part of the name), and you want to handle it with a shell you have to remove its special meaning for the shell (it is used to exctract variable data for example) by preceding it by a \

Code:

pobo@intrepid /tmp $
 touch 'this$file'

pobo@intrepid /tmp $
 ls thi*
this$file

pobo@intrepid /tmp $
 rm this$file
rm: cannot remove `this': No such file or directory

pobo@intrepid /tmp $
 rm this\$file
rm: remove regular empty file `this$file'? y

pobo@intrepid /tmp $

Thanks demwz,

as per my question its effect is to use the big lines in seperate lines for script readness the same while processing it is considered as single line.

correct me if i am wrong.

yes you're right