DOC HOME SITE MAP MAN PAGES GNU INFO SEARCH PRINT BOOK
 
Writing Deskshell commands

Quoting strings

Strings that contain special characters or spaces should be quoted with the single-quote character. For example, to display the text ``Press return'', you could use the command:

   echo 'Press return'

To include a single quote in quoted text it should be repeated, as in:

   echo 'Don''t press return'

No substitution takes place within quoted strings.

The following characters are special, and cannot be included in a string unless they are quoted:


 
space, tab, or newline

|
bar

'
single quote

&
ampersand

()
parentheses

$
dollar sign

{}
braces (curly brackets)

`
backquote

<
less than

>
greater than

^
circumflex

:
colon

;
semicolon

\
backslash

%
percent

=
equals

#
hash
The following characters are interpreted as wildcards unless they are in a quoted string:

*
asterisk

[
open bracket

?
question mark

Next topic: Comments
Previous topic: Deskshell syntax

© 2003 Caldera International, Inc. All rights reserved.
SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.7 -- 11 February 2003