What is the meaning the $ special character?

 
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Old 11-02-2017
What is the meaning the $ special character?

Hello... and thank you in advanced for any help anyone can offer me

I'm hoping someone can explain what the leading $ is/means (i.e. $PS1, $HOME, etc).... I was having a discussion with someone and was trying to explain it... Which I felt like I came up kind of short with how well I did it.

I understand it's a special character and how to use it if I want to see the value of a variable or if I want to see the status of a command... I'm just unsure what kind of special character its categorized as or the definition of it's exact function.

I got home and googled it... I found plenty of explanations on how to use it but didn't find an adequate explanation of what it is and it's definition. It seems like every special character is well documented except the $... Could someone explain to me how it's categorized and it's extract definition?

Once again... thanks for reading this and any help anyone can offer
 
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addch(3cur)															       addch(3cur)

Name
       addch, waddch, mvaddch, mvwaddch - add character to window

Syntax
       #include <cursesX.h>

       int addch(ch)
       chtype ch;

       int waddch(win, ch)
       WINDOW *win;
       chtype ch;

       int mvaddch(y, x, ch)
       int y, x;
       chtype ch;

       int mvwaddch(win, y, x, ch)
       WINDOW *win;
       int y, x;
       chtype ch;

Description
       The  routine inserts the character into the default window at the current cursor position and the window cursor is advanced.  The character
       is of the type which is defined in the header file, as containing both data and attributes.

       The routine inserts the character into the specified window at the current cursor position.  The cursor position is advanced.

       The routine moves the cursor to the specified (y, x) position and inserts the character into the default window.  The  cursor  position	is
       advanced after the character has been inserted.

       The  routine moves the cursor to the specified (y, x) position and inserts the character into the specified window.  The cursor position is
       advanced after the character has been inserted.

       All these routines are similar to The following information applies to all the routines.

       If the cursor moves on to the right margin, an automatic newline is performed.  If is enabled, and a character is added to the bottom right
       corner of the screen, the scrolling region will be scrolled up one line.  If scrolling is not allowed, ERR will be returned.

       If  is  a  tab,	newline,  or  backspace, the cursor will be moved appropriately within the window.  If is a newline, the routine is called
       before the cursor is moved to the beginning of the next line.  If newline mapping is off, the cursor will be moved to the  next	line,  but
       the  x  coordinate  will  be unchanged.	If is a tab the cursor is moved to the next tab position within the window.  If is another control
       character, it will be drawn in the ^X notation.	Calling the routine after adding a control character returns  the  representation  of  the
       control character, not the control character.

       Video  attributes can be combined with a character by or-ing them into the parameter.  This will result in these attributes being set.  The
       intent here is that text, including attributes, can be copied from one place to another using and For further information, see

       The and routines are macros.

Return Values
       The and functions return OK on success and ERR on error.

See Also
       clrtoeol(3cur), inch(3cur), scrollok(3cur), standout(3cur), putchar(3s)

																       addch(3cur)