Also called a virgule, the backslash key achieved fame because Microsoft used it to distinguish between subdirectories in MS-DOS This is a backslash: \
Symbol used to separate each directory level, for instance C: \Windows\Utilities For this reason, it is a reserved character and cannot be used as part of a filename
A keystroke (\) often used by operating systems (e g MS-DOS or Windows) to distinguish a step from one directory to a subdirectory along a path to a particular location or file
This is the "\" character It is a backwards slanting slash In DOS the backslash is used to symbolise the root directory It also helps to separate several items in a path name eg C: \DOS\COMMAND COM
(\) The most confusing key on the IBM keyboard Generally used when designating folders (subdirectories in DOS) Easily confused with the regular (sometimes called a front) slash (/) If a DOS command fails to work, check the correct use of backslash first
Unix uses a backslash to set off otherwise special characters In the UNIX shell for example, \* is a literal asterisk (a plain * matches every file in the current directory); \\ is an actual backslash, if you want one for some reason DOS users tend to type backslashes by mistake when Unix would rather see a regular slash(/)
under DOS, the separator used after a drive letter followed by a colon or following the network name of a computer, to differentiate between the above and a filename or directory name, or following a directory name to indicate a filename or a subdirectory