Slashes

Explore the uses of backslashes and forward slashes in operating systems and code, including path dividers and permissions.

There are 2 kinds of slashes: the backslash and the forward slash.

Backslash ( \ )

Backlashes are used in a couple of ways:


Use	Example
Windows operating systems use backslashes in URL and URI paths. When writing instructions for Windows users and developers, always include the *nix path first, followed by the Windows path. See the following example:	*nix $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunkd Windows %SPLUNK_HOME%\bin\splunkd.exe
Backslashes are used in code.	`search "event_description=\"Error: Invalid path\""`

A forward slash has multiple meanings:


Meaning	Example
nix operating systems use forward slashes as a path divider. When writing instructions for nix users and developers, always include the *nix path first, followed by the Windows path.	*nix $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunkd Windows %SPLUNK_HOME%\bin\splunkd.exe
Forward slashes can mean "and", "divide by", "or", "per", or "with".	Read/write permissions

In most cases, use the word you intend instead of a forward slash. See the following table for additional examples:


Do this	Don't do this
Linux or Windows	Linux and/or Windows
All registration information is written to and stored in the database.	All registration information is written to/stored in the database.
An 8 CPU, 16 GB memory machine can achieve 50 to 60 Mb per second throughput.	An 8 CPU, 16 GB memory machine can achieve 50 to 60 Mb/second throughput.
Read/write permissions	Read-write permissions