Unix Special Character Slang
1 Unix Special Character Slang
When using the command line in Unix/Linux, there are many shortcuts that make you efficient. Talking about command lines to others though is not efficient as many of the special characters have 3, 4 or even 5 syllables, for instance "ex-cla-ma-tion mark" has 5 syllables. The slang for that is "bang", i.e. one syllable. Here is a cheat sheet on those slangs.
1.1 Poem slang
/ / ! * ' ' #
^ " ` $ $ -
! * = @ $ _
% * < > ~ # 4
& [ ] . . /
| { , , : SYSTEM HALTED
1.2 Poem translated slang
Whack whack bang splat tic tic hash
Hat dirk back-tic ding ding dash,
Bang splat skid at buck under-score
Mod splat from to tilde hash four
Snowman bra ket dot dot whack
Pipe curly tail tail double dot crash
1.3 Slang table
| Symbol | Slang |
|---|---|
#! |
shebang, sha-bang, hash-bang, |
| #!/bin/env python | |
! |
bang or ping |
!44 |
previous 44th line |
!v |
previous line starting with 'v' |
!v:p |
:p to print the command without executing it |
!-2 |
line 2 back |
!! |
bang bang |
| entire previous line, as in: sudo !! | |
!^ |
bang-hat |
| previous line first argument | |
!* |
bang-splat |
| previous line all arguments | |
!$ |
bang-buck |
| previous line last argument | |
!$ & |
bang-buck-snowman |
| previous line last argument as background process | |
^ |
hat often as !^ or bang hat |
| previous line substitute delimiter | |
# |
hash |
* |
splat |
$ |
ding or buck |
/ |
whack |
\ |
back-whack |
= |
skid |
' |
tick or prime |
` |
back-tick |
, |
tail |
" |
dirk |
% |
mod or 007 |
vertical pipe |
pipe |
& |
pretzel or snowman |
? |
hook |
@ |
at |
( |
open |
) |
close |
{ |
curly or brace |
} |
curly-close or un-brace |
+ |
plus |
- |
dash |
. |
dot |
: |
double-dot |
; |
semi |
< |
from |
> |
to |
[ |
bra |
] |
ket |
!? |
interro-bang |
-- |
dunder |
| from double underscore | |
RETURN |
hammer |
etc |
"ett-see" |
regex |
"regg-ex" NOT "rej-ex", from "regular expression" |
LatTex |
"lah-tek" not "lay-teks" |
SCSI |
"skuzzy" |
kludge |
"kloodge" |
fubar |
"eeffed up beyond all repair" |
foobar |
"eeffed up beyond all recongnition |
ID-10-T |
"idiot" |
:// |
double-dot whack-whack |
emacs !$ & |
"emacs bang-buck snowman" |
C-r |
Interactive reverese search. i.e. start typing |
| once on desired line, hit TAB to edit line |