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Which is also why Windows uses backslash (\) as their path separator. Because forward slash would have collided with the slash option marker Windows inherited f

• throwawayboise 6y ago
  IIRC the "forward slash" convention for Windows command options traces back to DOS, not VMS. Where DOS inherited the convention from I do not know.
  • colejohnson66 6y ago
    CP/M https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP/M https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP/M In longer words: Windows was originally a GUI system on top of DOS which was influenced by CP/M. The NT kernel did away with DOS, but the influence still lives to this day. For a simple one: not being able to name a file "con" (or any capitalized variation) comes all the way from CP/M. For the uninitiated: OSes from that era didn't have "directories"; Everything lived in the root of the drive, including device files. So, to print a file, you could literally do something like: A> type FILE.TXT > PRN When DOS added directories, they retained this "feature" so programs unaware of what directories were could still print by writing to the `PRN` "file". Because of "backwards compatibility", NT still has this "feature" as well.
  • JoBrad 6y ago
    Short article on this: https://web.archive.org/web/20150823053040/http://blogs.msdn.com/b/larryosterman/archive/2005/06/24/432386.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20150823053040/http://blogs.msdn...
• kazinator 6y ago
  That is surprisingly false. Microsoft operating systems use both / and \ as a path separator, going all the way back to DOS. Early versions of MS-DOS made it a user preference option in the command.com interpreter, whether the user wanted to use / for options and \ for path separation or vice versa.