Re: Where did . come from

From: Casey Schaufler
Date: Thu Mar 24 2016 - 12:53:43 EST


On 3/23/2016 9:29 PM, Hgntkwis@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Granted, you need something to signify that a file is a dir (remember,
> in linux everything is a file), and what the parent dir is.
> I'm assuming that the kernel folks decided the name, or at least have
> some idea about it.
> I'm not objecting, it's fine, I just want to know this history behind the
> decision to use . instead of say $ or %.

Minimum amount of ink used on a TTY33.
No, I'm not kidding. It dates back to the UNIX systems of the 1970's.

>
> Thanks, David
>
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