- 1 year ago
When to use / or \ in Windows CMD?
In Windows CMD (Command Prompt), the forward slash /
and backslash \
are used in different contexts:
Command-Line Arguments: Most Windows commands and applications use the forward slash
/
as the prefix for command-line options and switches. For example:bashdir /s /p
ipconfig /all
Here, the forward slash is used to indicate options or flags that modify the behavior of the command.
File Paths: Windows uses the backslash
\
as the path separator in file paths. For example:makefileC:\Users\John\Documents\myfile.txt
D:\Projects\code\script.py
Here, the backslash is used to separate directories in the file path.
However, there are a few exceptions and scenarios where you might use the forward slash as part of a file path:
UNC Paths: UNC (Universal Naming Convention) paths that specify network shares use forward slashes to separate the server name from the share name. For example:
\\server\share\file.txt
URLs: If you are working with URLs in a command or script, you will use forward slashes to separate parts of the URL. For example:
arduinocurl https://example.com/api/data
In general, you should use the appropriate slash based on the context:
- For command-line options and switches, use the forward slash
/
. - For file paths on Windows, use the backslash
\
, unless you are working with UNC paths or URLs that require forward slashes.