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Accepted
Putnik
Asked: 2013-02-20 05:44:04 +0800 CST

backslash at the beginning of a command

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In Installing RVM manual I see a lot of lines starting with '\':

Install RVM with ruby:

$ \curl -L https://get.rvm.io | bash -s stable --ruby

I'd think it is just mistype but they repeat it many times.

So what is the reason?

bash

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    There's no error, it's a little hack to avoid using a curl shell alias if any exists.

    This works too :

    'curl' (...)
"curl" (...)
/usr/bin/curl (...)
command curl (...)
command -p curl (...)
    • 26

  2. A command preceded by a slash temporarily disables any aliases for the command.

    Bash Shell Temporarily Disable an Alias

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