4 ms·
The backslash basically means "ignore any aliases or functions by the same name, and run the first matching command in my $PATH instead". One reason for provid
by downerending 7y ago
The backslash basically means "ignore any aliases or functions by the same name, and run the first matching command in my $PATH instead".
One reason for providing this is so that you can have an alias like
alias mv '\mv -=myfavoritearg '
but it's also good for ensuring that you didn't pick up some distro nonsense.
- JadeNB 7y agoThanks! So '\' is special cased here—it's not some specific manifestation of a more general phenomenon of specialised escape-handling in the shell?
- downerending 7y agoIf I understand correctly, yes, that's how I'd describe it.
- a1369209993 7y ago> So '\' is special cased here No; quoting any part of the command name prevents alias expansion. Eg 'mv', "mv", 'm'v, m\v, etc all work.