Why a $ command line?

[BigJules]

So I'm a newbie from the Other Side. Still nobody's told me why Linux has a "$" (!!!) for a command line prefix while (at least while they had one) Micro$oft had a ">" which literally translated says a lot about their modesty.

Come on, Ubuntu, time for a change? Or can we suggest one?

[Spike-X]

Why not?

[Lord Illidan]

Does it matter so much? The default setting is a dollar sign when running as a normal user and a pound sign # when running as root. You can change this, of course.

Read here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_sign#Use_on_computers

[glupee]

I think there's a way to change it. Not sure tho, will look into it.

EDIT: lol, typed as you posted (Lord Illiad) i guess.

[fwojciec]

Of course there is a way to change it - it's linux ;)

[Calash]

It has to do with the terminal shell you are using.

Ubuntu ships with BASH, and that uses $ by default for a standard user, # for root.

This can be changed using the export command.


As for why they picked $....no idea :)

[igknighted]

Mine has a %, because I use the z-shell. I think that there are a few *nix shells that use > as well (tcsh or ksh maybe? I forget...). Bash chose to use $ for whatever reason, and since that is what Ubuntu uses as default thats what you have as default. But that shell (and even within bash the symbols it uses) can all be changed.

[Spike-X]

... a pound sign #

*psst* That's actually a 'hash' sign (or 'sharp', if you're a musician)

This is a pound sign: £

[Bothered]

It's set according to your PS1 environment variable.

[Lord Illidan]

*psst* That's actually a 'hash' sign (or 'sharp', if you're a musician)

This is a pound sign: £

My mistake..but actually the Americans do call it a pound sign. I guess I got it from a book about c-sharp (or c-pound :P)

[John.Michael.Kane]

For those wanting to change the prompt
Howo: Change / Setup bash custom prompt (http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/howto-linux-unix-bash-shell-setup-prompt.html)

[mikewhatever]

So I'm a newbie from the Other Side. Still nobody's told me why Linux has a "$" (!!!) for a command line prefix while (at least while they had one) Micro$oft had a ">" which literally translated says a lot about their modesty.

Come on, Ubuntu, time for a change? Or can we suggest one?

It looks like Ubuntu works too well for you, no issues and all, so that you are concerned with that kind of particulars.

[Spike-X]

...actually the Americans do call it a pound sign.

What do y'all call this, then? - £

[SuperDuck]

What do y'all call this, then? - £

We say "That goofy 'L' thing"... It's not even on our keyboards.

[Ultra Magnus]

Hmmm.... Though £ is a superior symbol and currency to $ - it doesn't really work well on the console - So I changed mine to a freindly message to myself - Does anyone have a keyboard with a euro sign on it - On my 4 Button I have both $ and euro, but how do I get it print the euro sign?

[perce]

Hmmm.... Though £ is a superior symbol and currency to $ - it doesn't really work well on the console - So I changed mine to a freindly message to myself - Does anyone have a keyboard with a euro sign on it - On my 4 Button I have both $ and euro, but how do I get it print the euro sign?

Go to preferences > keyboard > layout options and it will let you add € to some key

[psusi]

Different kind of pound. One is a currency, the other is what you do to your telephone when it stops working.

Different people call it different things though, so I use them interchangeably... pound, hash, sharp... all work, though I usually prefer pound.

On a side note, programmers pronounce $ as "string" not "dollar sign", ! as "bang". The first two characters of any shell script are #! which is pronounced as "sh-e-bang", a concatenation of hash and bang.

[jdong]

*psst* That's actually a 'hash' sign (or 'sharp', if you're a musician)

This is a pound sign: £

Nope, you're all wrong, it's an octothorpe ;-)

P.S. That's not the sharp sign either.

[SunnyRabbiera]

From what I know this all goes back to the ol traditional termninals of the early command line PC.
Dos had this and so did unix as far as I know, dont think apple had this though.

[Spike-X]

P.S. That's not the sharp sign either.

It's close enough!

[markp1989]

Hmmm.... Though £ is a superior symbol and currency to $ - it doesn't really work well on the console - So I changed mine to a freindly message to myself - Does anyone have a keyboard with a euro sign on it - On my 4 Button I have both $ and euro, but how do I get it print the euro sign?

alt gr + 4 on my computer (standard UK keyboard)

€