Why is backslash in bash?

Question

I exported the variable to ~ / .bashrc as follows (followed by the ~ / .bashrc source)

export w=/home/user/workspace/ 

When I'm on the command line, I try to access the $ w subdirectories as follows

 user$ vi $w/ 

After that, when I press the tab key, a mysterious backslash appears

 user$ vi \$w/ 

Disables further tab completion. What for? There can be no concrete vi , as is the case even with ls .

Bash version 4.2.24 (1) -release (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Running Ubuntu 11.04

Edit Workaround : press Esc + Ctrl + E before clicking on the tab.

Answer 1

Bash is a little smart, but not so smart. It will not be able to expand your variable, and then fill the tab in everything that is evaluated. Thus, this is not closing the “disable” backslash tab, it is a fact that bash cannot find any suggestions for completion.

Given that termination will not help you if you actually have environment variables in your path, the only way to complete it can help you if you want to enter an alphabetic dollar sign. I think bash is simply overdoing it trying to finish something.

Nevertheless, I would call it a mistake, since in your case it will not only not end, but will also change the meaning of what you typed.