Home > Why Does Windows Use The Backslash '\' To Indicate Directories?
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Why does Windows use the backslash '\' to indicate directories?

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02/24/2022
Amathist Deluney

Windows ya usaba la barra / (Slash) para indicar parámetros en sus comandos DOS, cuando creo la estructura de directorios en MS-DOS 2.0 no era muy buena idea usar el mismo carácter para navegar entre directorios y subdirectorio, escogieron la barra invertida \ (Backslash) por ser muy similar al slash de Unix y porque practicamente no existe palabra que la use

¿Por qué se usa la barra invertida en Windows? - MuyComputer

05/16/2022
O'Reilly Dries

Why does Windows use the backslash \ to indicate directories?

The use of \ comes from operating systems before Windows. I think it was already in use in Fortran, I'm definitely sure it appeared in UNIX in 1970, as well as in CP/M and is an indicator of the path to a command or file in MS-DOS.

I couldn't say for sure why that symbol was chosen but probably because it is not part of any text or a mathematical symbol, i.e. it is an optimal symbol to be used as a separator in a command line.

It is somewhat similar to using the @, which is also not part of any text or nomenclature.

It is also not part of any text or nomenclature.

It is a symbol that can be used as a separator in a command line.

It is a symbol that is not part of any text or nomenclature.

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