View source for Slash (punctuation)

{{Short description|Slanting line punctuation mark (/)}}
{{redirect|/}}
{{Technical reasons|:/|the smiley|List of emoticons}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox punctuation mark
 |mark=/
 |name=Slash or solidus
 |unicode = Unicode: {{Unichar|002F|solidus|html=47}}
}}

The '''slash''' is a slanting line [[punctuation mark]] {{char|/}}. It is also known as a '''stroke''', a '''solidus''', a '''forward slash''' and [[#Alternative names|several other historical or technical names]]. Once used as the equivalent of the modern [[full stop|period]] and [[comma]], the slash is now used to represent [[#Division|division]] and [[#Fractions|fractions]], as a [[#Dating|date separator]], or to connect alternative terms.

A slash in the reverse direction {{char|\}} is known as a [[backslash]].

==History==
Slashes may be found in early writing as a variant form of [[dash (typography)|dashes]], [[vertical bar|vertical strokes]], etc. The present use of a slash distinguished from such other marks derives from the [[medieval Europe]]an [[#virgule|virgule]] ({{langx|la|virgula}}, {{nowrap|<small>{{abbr|lit|literally}}.</small> "twig"),}} which was used as a [[full stop|period]], [[#scratch|scratch comma]], and [[caesura mark]].<ref name="virg">{{cite dictionary |dictionary=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=Corrected reissue |entry=Virgule |date=1933 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/the-oxford-english-dictionary-1933-all-volumes/The%20Oxford%20English%20Dictionary%20Volume%2012%20-%20Variant/page/n238/mode/1up?view=theater 235] |volume=XII}}</ref> (The first sense was eventually lost to the [[full stop|low dot]] and the other two developed separately into the [[comma]] {{char|,}} and [[caesura mark]] {{char|{{!}}{{!}}}}) Its use as a comma became especially widespread in [[Kingdom of France|France]], where it was also used to mark the continuation of a word onto the next line of a page, a sense later taken on by the [[hyphen]] {{char|-}}.<ref name="partridge">{{cite book |last=Partridge |first=Eric |title=You Have a Point There: A Guide to Punctuation and Its Allies |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=London |date=2003 |orig-year=1953 |isbn=9781134942244 |contribution=The Virgule (or Virgil) or the Oblique |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lN-KAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 155] ff }}</ref> The [[Fraktur]] script used throughout [[Central Europe]] in the [[early modern period]] used a single slash as a scratch comma and a double slash {{char|//}} as a dash. The double slash developed into the [[Double hyphen|double oblique hyphen]] {{char|⸗}} and [[double hyphen]] {{char|⹀}} before being usually simplified into [[dash|various single dashes]].

In the 18th century, the mark was generally known in English as the "[[#oblique|oblique]]".<ref name="oedobli">{{cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=3rd |contribution=oblique, ''adj., n.,'' and ''adv.'' |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> but particularly the less vertical [[#fraction|fraction slash]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=1st |contribution=diagonal, ''adj.'' and ''n.'' |date=1895 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> The variant "oblique stroke" was increasingly shortened to "[[#stroke|stroke]]", which became the common British name for the character, although printers and publishing professionals often instead referred to it as an "oblique". In the 19th and early 20th century, it was also widely known as the "[[#shilling|shilling mark]]" or "[[#solidus|solidus]]", from its use as a notation or abbreviation for the [[shilling]].<ref name="oedshill">{{cite dictionary |title=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=1st |volume=VIII |page=697 |entry=shilling, ''n.'' |date=1914 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last=Murray |editor-first=James A. H. |first=Henry |last=Bradley |quote=1. An English money of account, since the Norman Conquest of the value of 12 pence or {{sfrac|20}} of a pound sterling. Abbreviated s. (__{{nbsp}}L. {{lang|la|solidus}}: see SOLIDUS), formerly also sh., shil.; otherwise denoted by the sign /- after the numeral. |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.31856/page/n1677/mode/1up}}</ref><ref name="oedsolid">{{Cite dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99986/page/n23/mode/1up |title=The Oxford English Dictionary |volume=X (sole{{ndash}}sz) |entry=solidus |date=1913 |page=401 |via=Internet Archive |quote=2. a sloping line used to separate shillings from pence. A shilling mark.}}</ref> The name "slash" is a recent development, not appearing in [[Webster's Dictionary]] until the Third Edition (1961)<ref>Compare {{cite dictionary | dictionary= Webster's Third New International Dictionary |date=1961 |entry =Slash (n) |url=https://archive.org/details/webstersthirdnew0000phil/page/2138/mode/1up}} with {{cite dictionary |title=Webster's New American dictionary : completely new and up to date. |date=1947 |entry =Slash (n) |url=https://archive.org/details/webstersnewameri04teal/page/936/mode/1up}}</ref>{{efn|Nevertheless, the word was already being used in official publications, such as the 1947 [[style guide]] of the US Department of Agriculture Forestry Service.<ref>{{cite book |title=Style Manual for publications |first=E. vH |last=Larson |publisher=US Department of Agriculture Forestry Service |date=1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BgrxAAAAMAAJ&q=%22followed+by+a+slash%22 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408085857/https://books.google.com/books?id=BgrxAAAAMAAJ&q=%22followed+by+a+slash%22 |url-status=live}}</ref>}} but has gained wide currency through its use in [[#Computing|computing]], a context where it is sometimes used in British English in preference to "stroke". Clarifying terms such as "forward slash" have been coined owing to widespread use of [[Microsoft]]'s [[MS-DOS|DOS]] and [[Windows (OS)|Windows]] [[operating system]]s, which use the [[backslash]] extensively.<ref name="jed">{{cite journal |last=Hartman |first=Jed |title=A Slash by Any Other Name |url=http://www.kith.org/journals/neology/2011/12/a_slash_by_any_other_name.html |date=27 December 2011 |access-date=15 February 2016 |journal=Neology |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411015553/http://www.kith.org/journals/neology/2011/12/a_slash_by_any_other_name.html |archive-date=11 April 2023}}</ref><ref name="turton">{{cite magazine |last=Turton |first=Stuart |url=http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/352510/berners-lee-web-address-slashes-were-a-mistake |title=Berners-Lee: web address slashes were 'a mistake' |magazine=[[PC Pro]] |date=15 October 2009 |access-date=21 September 2011 |archive-date=4 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104013102/http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/352510/berners-lee-web-address-slashes-were-a-mistake |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Usage==
===Disjunction and conjunction <span class="anchor" id="OR"></span><span class="anchor" id="XOR"></span>===

====Connecting alternatives <span class="anchor" id="Gender neutrality"></span><span class="anchor" id="Gender-neutrality"></span>====
{{see also|Gender neutrality in languages with grammatical gender}}
The slash is commonly used in many languages as a shorter substitute for the [[Conjunction (grammar)#Coordinating conjunctions|conjunction]] "or", typically with the sense of [[exclusive or]] (e.g., Y/N permits yes or no but not both).<ref name="solidhart">{{cite book |contribution=Solidi and verticals |at=4.13 |title=New Hart's Rules: The Oxford Style Guide |edition=2nd |editor-first=Anne |editor-last=Waddingham |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> Its use in this sense is somewhat informal,<ref name="cms104">{{cite book |title=[[The Chicago Manual of Style]] |edition=16th |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |date=2016 |at=6.104}}</ref> although it is used in [[philology]] to note variants (e.g., ''virgula/{{not a typo|uirgula}}'') and [[etymology|etymologies]] (e.g., [[French language|F.]] {{lang|fr|virgule}}/[[Late Latin|LL]]. {{lang|la|virgula}}/[[Classical Latin|L.]] {{lang|la|virga}}/[[Proto-Indo-European|PIE]]. ''{{PIE|*wirgā}}'').<ref name="partridge" />

Such slashes may be used to avoid taking a position in [[Ethnonym|naming disputes]]. One example is the [[Terms for Syriac Christians|Assyrian naming dispute]], which prompted the [[US census|US]] and [[Swedish census]]es to use the respective official designations "[[Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac]]" and "[[Assyrier/Syrianer]]" for the ethnic group.

In particular, since the late 20th century, the slash is used to permit more [[gender-neutral language]] in place of the traditional [[He (pronoun)|masculine]] or [[singular they|plural]] gender neutrals. In the case of [[English language|English]], this is usually restricted to [[Gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns|degendered pronouns]] such as "he/she" or "s/he". Most other [[Indo-European languages]] include more far-reaching use of [[grammatical gender]]. In these, the separate gendered [[desinence]]s (grammatical suffices) of the words may be given divided by slashes or set off with [[parentheses]]. For example, in [[Spanish language|Spanish]], {{lang|es|hijo}} is a son and a {{lang|es|hija}} is a daughter; some proponents of gender-neutral language advocate the use of {{lang|es|hijo/a}} or {{lang|es|hijo(a)}} when writing for a general audience or addressing a listener of unknown gender.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cunha |first1=Celso |last2=Cintra |first2=Lindley |date=2001 |title=Nova Gramática do Português Contemporâneo |edition=3rd |location=Rio de Janeiro |publisher=Nova Fronteira |isbn=8520911374 |language=pt}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://numpol.com/br/pdf/2II.pdf |title=Coleção Números Polêmicos |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714220702/http://numpol.com/br/pdf/2II.pdf |archive-date=14 July 2011 |access-date=29 July 2012 |language=pt |work=NumPol.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Robson |last=Fernando de Souza |url=http://conscienciaefervescente.blogspot.com/2009/08/proposta-do-portugues-com-inclusao-de.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709055953/http://conscienciaefervescente.blogspot.com/2009/08/proposta-do-portugues-com-inclusao-de.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 July 2012 |title=A proposta do Português com Inclusão de Gênero |work=Consciência Efervescente |date=27 February 2004 |access-date=24 July 2012 |language=pt}}</ref> Less commonly, [[At sign#Gender neutrality in Spanish|at sign]] {{angle brackets|@}} is used instead: {{lang|es|hij@}}. Similarly, in [[German language|German]] and some Scandinavian and Baltic languages, {{lang|de|Sekretär}} refers to any secretary and {{lang|de|Sekretärin}} to an explicitly female secretary; some advocates of gender neutrality support forms such as {{lang|de|Sekretär/-in}} for general use. This does not always work smoothly, however: problems arise in the case of words like {{lang|de|Arzt}} ('doctor') where the explicitly female form {{lang|de|Ärztin}} is [[umlaut (diacritic)|umlauted]] and words like {{lang|de|Chinese}} ('Chinese person') where the explicitly female form {{lang|de|Chinesin}} loses the terminal ''-e''.

====Connecting non-contrasting items <span class="anchor" id="And"></span>====
The slash is also used as a shorter substitute for the conjunction "and" or [[inclusive or]] (i.e., A or B or both),<ref name="cms104" /> typically in situations where it fills the role of a hyphen or [[en dash]]. For example, the "Hemingway/Faulkner generation" might be used to discuss the era of the [[Lost Generation]] inclusive of the people around and affected by both [[Ernest Hemingway|Hemingway]] and [[William Faulkner|Faulkner]]. This use is sometimes proscribed, as by ''[[New Hart's Rules]]'', the style guide for the [[Oxford University Press]].<ref name="solidhart" />

====Presenting routes====
The slash, as a form of inclusive or, is also used to punctuate the stages of a route (e.g., [[Shanghai]]/[[Nanjing]]/[[Wuhan]]/[[Chongqing]] as stops on a tour of the [[Yangtze River|Yangtze]]).<ref name="partridge" />

==== Introducing topic shifts ====
The word ''slash'' is also developing as a way to introduce topic shifts or follow-up statements. ''Slash'' can introduce a follow-up statement, such as, "I really love that hot dog place on Liberty Street. Slash can we go there tomorrow?" It can also indicate a shift to an unrelated topic, as in "JUST SAW ALEX! Slash I just chubbed on oatmeal raisin cookies at north quad and i miss you." The new usage of "slash" appears most frequently in spoken conversation, though it can also appear in writing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2013/04/24/slash-not-just-a-punctuation-mark-anymore/ |title=Slash: Not Just a Punctuation Mark Anymore |at="Lingua Franca" column |work=The Chronicle of Higher Education |last1=Curzan |first1=Anne |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193330/http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2013/04/24/slash-not-just-a-punctuation-mark-anymore/ |archive-date=29 October 2013 |date=24 April 2013}}</ref>

====In speech====
Sometimes the word ''slash'' is used in speech as a [[conjunction (grammar)|conjunction]] to represent the written role of the character (as if a written slash were being read aloud from text), e.g. "bee slash mosquito protection" for a beekeeper's net hood,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxHrqCxjP2U |title=YouTube video: "''Back Like I Never Left - Jourdan River Vacation House Hive Removal''" |website=[[YouTube]] |access-date=27 January 2020 |archive-date=21 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221221033/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxHrqCxjP2U&gl=US&hl=en |url-status=live}}</ref> and "There's a little bit of nectar slash honey over here, but really it's not a lot." (said by a beekeeper examining in a beehive),<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybW0QLxQEg YouTube video "Drone laying hive building up and getting new equipment"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200403045141/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybW0QLxQEg&gl=US&hl=en |date=3 April 2020}} at time 9:16</ref> and "''[[Gastornis]]'' slash ''[[Diatryma]]''" for two supposed genera of prehistoric birds which are now thought to be one genus.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amUhDAyYvkY |title=The Terror Duck - Gastornis at time 5:30 |website=[[YouTube]] |access-date=20 October 2020 |archive-date=6 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106005559/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amUhDAyYvkY |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Mathematics <span class="anchor" id="Arithmetic"></span><span class="anchor" id="Fraction"></span><span class="anchor" id="Ratio"></span><span class="anchor" id="Ratios"></span><span class="anchor" id="Math"></span><span class="anchor" id="Maths"></span>===

==== Fractions ====
The slash is used between two numbers to indicate a [[fraction]] or [[ratio]]. Such formatting developed as a way to write the horizontal [[fraction bar]] on a single line of text. It is first attested in [[Kingdom of England|England]] and [[Viceroyalty of Mexico|Mexico]] in the 18th century.<ref name="jeff">{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Jeff |title=Fractions |url=http://jeff560.tripod.com/fractions.html |work=Earliest Uses of Various Mathematical Symbols |via=Tripod.com |date=22 December 2014 |access-date=15 February 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602010313/https://jeff560.tripod.com/fractions.html |archive-date=2 June 2023}}</ref> This notation is known as an online, solidus,<ref name="Eckersley et al">{{cite book |last1=Eckersley |first1=Richard |last2=Angstadt |first2=Richard |last3=Ellertson |first3=Charles M. |last4=Hendel |first4=Richard |last5=Pascal |first5=Naomi B. |last6=Walker Scott |first6=Anita |title=Glossary of Typesetting Terms |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=1994 |ref={{harvid|Eckersley & al.|1994}} |isbn=0226183718 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oeTnynRiN8AC&pg=PA93 93], [https://books.google.com/books?id=oeTnynRiN8AC&pg=PA97 97]}}</ref> or shilling fraction.<ref name="Eckersley et al" /> Nowadays fractions, unlike inline division, are often given using smaller numbers, [[superscript]], and [[subscript]] (e.g., {{sup|23}}/{{sub|43}}). This notation is responsible for the current form of the [[percent sign|percent]] {{angle brackets|%}}, [[permille]] {{angle brackets|‰}}, and [[permyriad]] {{angle brackets|‱}} signs, developed from the horizontal form {{sfrac|0|0}} which represented an early modern corruption of an Italian abbreviation of ''per cento''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=D. E. |title=Rara Arithmetica |date=1908 |location=Boston |publisher=Ginn & Co. |url= https://archive.org/details/67224711 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

[[File:123 fraction slash 456.svg|thumb|A fraction automatically generated by the font from basic digits and the Unicode fraction bar, 123⁄456.]]
Unicode provides for a dedicated fraction slash {{angle brackets|⁄}} that is distinct from the ASCII solidus {{angle brackets|/}}. Many typefaces draw this fraction slash (and the division slash) at a less vertical angle than the solidus. The separate encoding permits automatic formatting of the preceding and succeeding digits by glyph substitution with numerator and denominator glyphs, which are in turn distinct from superscript and subscript glyphs (e.g., display of "1, fraction slash, 2" as {{notatypo|"½"}}, and similarly "123, fraction slash, 456" as "123⁄456").<ref>{{cite book |title=The Unicode Standard |edition=6.0 |page=192 |chapter=Writing Systems and Punctuation: General Punctuation: Fraction Slash |chapter-url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode6.0.0/ch06.pdf#G12861 |date=2011 |isbn=9781936213016 |editor1-first=Julie D. |editor-last=Allen |ref={{harvid|Unicode|2011}} |publisher=Unicode Consortium |access-date=30 May 2018 |archive-date=30 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150730233934/http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode6.0.0/ch06.pdf#G12861 |url-status=live}}</ref> This is supported by an increasing number of environments and [[computer font]]s. Because support is not yet universal, some authors still use [[Unicode subscripts and superscripts#Uses|Unicode subscripts and superscripts]] to compose fractions, and many computer fonts design these characters for this purpose. In addition, [[precomposed character|precomposed fractions]] of the multiples less than 1 of {{sup|1}}/{{sub|n}} for 2 ≤ n ≤ 6 and n = 8 (e.g. {{notatypo|⅔}} and {{notatypo|⅝}}, as well as {{notatypo|⅐}}, {{notatypo|⅑}}, and {{notatypo|⅒}}, are found in the Unicode [[Number Forms]] or [[Latin-1 Supplement (Unicode block)|Latin-1 Supplement]] blocks.<ref>{{cite web |work=The Unicode Standard |edition=12.1 |publisher=Unicode Consortium |title=Number Forms |date=2019 |url=https://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2150.pdf |access-date=22 November 2019 |archive-date=24 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191124140205/http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2150.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

This notation can also be used when the concept of fractions is extended from numbers to arbitrary rings by the method of [[localization of a ring]].

==== Division <span class="anchor" id="division"></span>====
The division slash {{angle brackets|∕}}, equivalent to the [[division sign]] {{angle brackets|÷}}, may be used between two numbers to indicate [[division (math)|division]]. For example, {{nowrap|23 ÷ 43}} can also be written as {{nowrap|23 ∕ 43}}. This use developed from the [[#Fractions|fraction slash]] in the late 18th or early 19th century.<ref name="jeff" /> The formatting was advocated by [[Augustus De Morgan|De Morgan]] in the mid-19th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=De Morgan |first=Augustus |author-link=Augustus De Morgan |contribution=The Calculus of Functions |title=Encyclopædia Metropolitana |date=1845 |location=London |publisher=B. Fellowes et al.}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=September 2023|reason=Volume and page number needed.}}

==== Quotient of set ====
{{see also|Set (mathematics)}}
A ''quotient of a set'' is informally a new set obtained by identifying some elements of the original set. This is denoted as a fraction <math>S / R</math> (sometimes even as a built fraction), where the numerator <math>S</math> is the original set (often equipped with some algebraic structure). What is appropriate as denominator depends on the context.

In the most general case, the denominator is an [[equivalence relation]] <math>\sim</math> on the original set <math>S</math>, and elements are to be identified in the quotient <math>S/{\sim}</math> if they are equivalent according to <math>\sim</math>; this is technically achieved by making <math>S/{\sim}</math> the set of all [[equivalence class]]es of <math>\sim</math>.

In [[group theory]], the slash is used to mark [[quotient group]]s. The general form is <math>G/N</math>, where <math>G</math> is the original group and <math>N</math> is the normal subgroup; this is read "<math>G</math> mod <math>N</math>", where "mod" is short for "[[modulo operation|modulo]]". Formally this is a special case of quotient by an equivalence relation, where <math>g \sim h</math> iff <math>g = hn</math> for some <math>n \in N</math>. Since many algebraic structures ([[Ring (mathematics)|ring]]s, [[vector space]]s, etc.) in particular are groups, the same style of quotients extend also to these, although the denominator may need to satisfy additional [[Closure (mathematics)|closure]] properties for the quotient to preserve the full algebraic structure of the original (e.g. for the quotient of a ring to be a ring, the denominator must be an [[Ideal (ring theory)|ideal]]).

When the original set is the set of [[integer]]s <math>\mathbb{Z}</math>, the denominator may alternatively be just an integer: <math>\mathbb{Z}/n</math>. This is an alternative notation for the set <math>\mathbb{Z}_n</math> of [[modular arithmetic#Integers modulo m|integers modulo ''n'']] (needed because <math>\mathbb{Z}_n</math> is also notation for the very different [[P-adic number|ring of ''n''-adic integers]]). <math>\mathbb{Z}/n</math> is an abbreviation of <math>\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}</math> or <math>\mathbb{Z}/(n)</math>, which both are ways of writing the set in question as a quotient of groups.

==== Combining slash ====
Slashes may also be used as a [[combining character]] in mathematical formulae. The most important use of this is that combining a slash with a [[binary relation|relation]] negates it, producing e.g. 'not equal' <math>\neq</math> as negation of <math>=</math> or 'not in' <math>\notin</math> as negation of <math>\in</math>; these slashed relation symbols are always implicitly defined in terms of the non-slashed base symbol. The graphical form of the negation slash is mostly the same as for a division slash, except in some cases where that would look odd; the negation <math>\nmid</math> of <math>\mid</math> (divides) and negation <math>\nsim</math> of <math>\sim</math> (various meanings) customarily both have their negations slashes less steep and in particular shorter than the usual one.

The [[Feynman slash notation]] is an unrelated use of combining slashes, mostly seen in [[quantum field theory]]. This kind of combining slash takes a vector base symbol and converts it to a matrix quantity. Technically this notation is a shorthand for contracting the vector with the [[gamma matrix|Dirac gamma matrices]], so <math>A\!\!\!/ = \gamma^\mu A_\mu</math>; what one gains is not only a more compact formula, but also not having to allocate a letter as the contracted index.

===Computing===
The slash, sometimes distinguished as "forward slash", is used in [[computing]] in a number of ways, primarily as a separator among levels in a given hierarchy, for example in the path of a filesystem.

====File paths====
The slash is used as the [[path (computing)|path]] component separator in many [[computer]] operating systems (e.g., Unix's {{mono|pictures/image.png}}). In [[Unix]] and [[Unix-like]] systems, such as [[macOS]] and [[Linux]], the slash is also used for the [[volume (computing)|volume]] [[root directory]] (e.g., the initial slash in {{mono|/usr/john/pictures}}). Confusion of the slash with the backslash {{angle brackets|\}} largely arises from the use of the latter as the path component separator in the widely used MS-DOS and [[Microsoft Windows]] systems.<ref name="jed" /><ref name="turton" />

====Networking====
The slash is used in a similar fashion in internet [[Uniform Resource Locator|URLs]] (e.g., {{mono|<nowiki>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_(punctuation)</nowiki>}}).<ref name="solidhart" /> Often this portion of such URLs corresponds with files on a Unix [[computer server|server]] with the same name, and this is where this convention for [[internet]] URLs comes from.

The slash in an [[IP address]] (e.g., {{mono|192.0.2.0/29}}) indicates the prefix size in [[CIDR notation]]. The number of addresses of a [[Subnetwork|subnet]] may be calculated as 2{{sup|address size − prefix size}}, in which the address size is 128 for [[IPv6]] and 32 for [[IPv4]]. For example, in IPv4, the prefix size/29 gives: 2{{sup|32–29}} = 2{{sup|3}} = 8 addresses.

====Programming====
The slash is used as a [[#Division|division operator]] in most [[programming language]]s while [[APL (programming language)|APL]] uses it for reduction ([[Fold (higher-order function)|fold]]) and compression ([[Filter (higher-order function)|filter]]). The double slash is used by [[Rexx]] as a [[#Mod|modulo operator]], and [[Python (programming language)|Python]] (starting in version 2.2) uses a double slash for division which rounds (using [[Floor and ceiling functions|floor]]) to an integer.  In [[Raku (programming language)|Raku]] the double slash is used as a "defined-or" alternative to '''||'''. A dot and slash {{angle brackets|./}} is used in [[MATLAB]] and [[GNU Octave]] to indicate an element-by-element division of matrices.

[[comment (computer programming)|Comments]] that begin with {{mono|'''/*'''}} (a slash and an asterisk) and end with {{mono|'''*/'''}} were introduced in [[PL/I]] and subsequently adopted by [[SAS System|SAS]], [[C (programming language)|C]], Rexx, [[C++]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[JavaScript]], [[PHP]], [[Cascading Style Sheets|CSS]], and [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]]. A double slash {{mono|'''//'''}} is also used by [[C99]], C++, C#, PHP, Java, [[Swift (programming language)|Swift]], [[Pascal (programming_language)|Pascal]] and JavaScript to start a single line comment.

In [[SGML]] and derived languages such as [[HTML]] and [[XML]], a slash is used in closing tags. For example, in HTML, {{mono|&lt;b&gt;}} begins a section of {{strong|bold}} text and {{mono|&lt;/b&gt;}} closes it. In XHTML, slashes are also necessary for "self-closing" elements such as the [[newline]] command {{nowrap|{{mono|&lt;br /&gt;}}}} where HTML has simply {{nowrap|{{mono|&lt;br&gt;}}}}.

In a style originating in the [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] line of operating systems ([[OS/8]], [[RT-11]], [[TOPS-10]], et cetera), [[Windows (operating system)|Windows]], [[DOS]], some [[CP/M]] programs, [[OpenVMS]], and [[OS/2]] all use the slash to indicate [[command-line option]]s. For example, the command {{mono|dir/w}} is understood as using the command [[dir (command)|dir]] ("directory") with the "wide" option. No space is required between the command and the switch; this was the reason for the choice to use backslashes as the path separator since one would otherwise be unable to run a program in a different directory.

Slashes are used as the standard delimiters for [[regular expression]]s, although other characters can be used instead.

[[IBM JCL]] uses a double slash to start each line in a batch job stream except for /* and /&.

====Programs====
[[Internet Relay Chat|IRC]] and many in-game chat clients use the slash to mark commands, such as joining and leaving a chat room or sending private messages. For example, in IRC, {{mono|/join #services}} is a command to join the [[IRC channels|channel]] "services" and {{mono|/me}} is a command to format the following message as though it were an action instead of a spoken message. In ''[[Minecraft]]''{{'}}s chat function, the slash is used for executing console and plugin commands. In ''[[Second Life]]''{{'}}s chat function, the slash is used to select the "communications channel", allowing users to direct commands to virtual objects "listening" on different channels. For example, if a virtual house's lights were set to use channel 42, the command "/42 on" would turn them on. In [[Discord (software)|Discord]], slash commands are used to send special messages and execute commands, like sending a [[shrug|shrug emoji (¯\_(ツ)_/¯)]] or a table flip emoji ((╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻), or changing one's nickname using "/nick". Slash commands can also be used to use Discord bots.

The [[Gedcom]] standard for exchanging computerized genealogical data uses slashes to delimit surnames; an example would be Bill /Smith/ Jr. Slashes around surnames are also used in [[Personal Ancestral File]].

===Electronics===
A leading slash is one of several common conventions for indicating an [[Active-low#Active state|active-low]] digital signal, which performs the named function when at a low voltage level.<ref>{{cite news |title=RAM Guide: Part I DRAM and SRAM Basics |first=Jon "Hannibal" |last=Stokes |date=June 2008 |journal=[[Ars Technica]] |page=3 |url=https://archive.arstechnica.com/paedia/r/ram_guide/ram_guide.part1-3.html |quote=Putting a "/" in front of the pin name is the standard text way of writing it with a line over it. The "/" or line signifies that the pin is activated by a low voltage, or logic 0.}}</ref>  For example, [[dynamic random-access memory]] has active-low Chip Select, Row Address Strobe and Column Address Strobe signals, commonly written {{nobr|/CS}}, {{nobr|/RAS}}, and {{nobr|/CAS}}.<ref>{{cite tech report |type=Data sheet |page=5 |title=512Mb DDR SDRAM HY5DU12422A(L)T, HY5DU12822A(L)T, HY5DU121622A(L)T |publisher=Hynix |date=February 2003 |url=https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/datasheets/hynix-hy5du12822at-d43-datasheet.pdf#page=5}}</ref>  This extends to signals which select between two options, such as "{{nobr|R/W}}", which indicates that the function is "read" when high and "write" when low.  (Sometimes written as {{nobr|R/{{overline|W}}}} for greater clarity.<ref>{{cite tech report |type=Class Notes |title=EE 308: Address, Data and Control Buses) |first=Bill |last=Rison |date=7 April 2010 |page=5 |url=http://www.ee.nmt.edu/~rison/ee308_spr10/supp/100407.pdf#page=5 |access-date=2024-11-25 |quote=It brings the Read/Write (R/{{overline|W}}) line low to indicate a write}}</ref>

===Currency===
{{main|Shilling}}
[[File:038 35 Kisoro, 2000 constructed under swTws Project (7928190604).jpg|thumb|Sign in [[Kisoro]] with prices in [[Ugandan shilling]]s; note the use of the '/=' notation.]]
The slash (as the "shilling mark" or "solidus")<ref name="Fowler solidus">{{Cite dictionary |last=Fowler |first=Francis George |url=https://archive.org/details/conciseoxforddic00fowlrich/page/829/mode/1up |title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English |entry=solidus |date=1917 |page=829 |via=Internet Archive |quote='''sǒ·lidus''', n. (pl. -di). (Hist.) gold coin introduced by Roman Emperor Constantine; (only in abbr. ''s.'') shilling(s), as 7s. 6d., £1 1s.; the shilling line (for ſ or long s) as in 7/6. [LL use of L {{small|SOLID}}us]}}</ref> was an abbreviation for the [[shilling]], a former [[coin]] of the United Kingdom and [[Commonwealth of Nations|its former colonies]]. Before the [[Decimal Day|decimalisation of currency in Britain]], its currency abbreviations (collectively [[£sd]]) represented their [[Latin]] names, derived from a [[French livre|medieval French modification]] of the late [[Ancient Roman units of measurement#Mass and coins|Roman libra]], [[solidus (coin)|solidus]], and [[denarius]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Money in Shakespeare |last=Ojima |first=Fumita |publisher=[[Toyo University]] Press |issue=63 |journal=Journal of Business Administration |oclc=835683007 |page=113 |date=November 2004 |url=http://www.toyo.ac.jp/uploaded/attachment/2890.pdf |issn=0286-6439 |access-date=10 June 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=10 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610101123/http://www.toyo.ac.jp/uploaded/attachment/2890.pdf}} See also [[Carolingian monetary system]].</ref> Thus, one [[penny]] less than two [[pound sterling|pounds]] was written {{nowrap|£1 19s 11d}} or {{nowrap|£1 19ſ 11d.}} During the period when [[English orthography]] included the [[long s]], {{char|ſ}} or ''{{serif|{{char|ſ}}}}'', (abbreviating ''shilling'') the ſ came to be written as a single slash.<ref>{{cite book |title=[[The Chicago Manual of Style]] |edition=13th |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |date=1982 |page=676}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=[[Scientific Style and Format]]: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers |date=1994 |page=65 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |bibcode=1994ssfc.book.....S}}</ref> The d. might be omitted, and "2ſ6" ("two shillings and sixpence") became simplified as 2/6.<ref name="Fowler solidus" /> Amounts in full pounds, shillings and pence could be written in many different ways, for example: £1 9s 6d, £1.9.6, £1-9-6, and even £1/9/6d (with a slash used ''also'' to separate pounds and shillings).<ref>{{cite web |publisher=University of Nottingham |title=Manuscripts and special Collections: Money |url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/researchguidance/weightsandmeasures/money.aspx |access-date=28 November 2021 |archive-date=12 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312080731/http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/researchguidance/weightsandmeasures/money.aspx |url-status=live}}</ref> The same style was also used under the [[British Raj]] and early independent India for the predecimalization [[Indian rupee|rupee]]/[[Indian anna|anna]]/[[Indian pie|pie]] system.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3367.pdf |date=7 October 2007 |archive-date=9 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509233828/http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3367.pdf |url-status=live |title=Proposal to Encode North Indic Number Forms in ISO/IEC 10646 |last=Pandey |first=Anshuman |publisher=[[University of Michigan]] |page=8}}</ref>

In five East African countries ([[Kenya]], [[Tanzania]], [[Uganda]], [[Somalia]], and the ''de facto'' country of [[Somaliland]]), where the national currencies are denominated in shillings, the [[decimal separator]] is a slash mark (e.g., {{shilingi|2|50}}). Where the minor unit is zero, an [[equals sign]] is used (e.g., 5/=).

In [[foreign exchange]], a slash is used to denote a [[currency pair]], for example the USD/EUR rate is the number of [[euro]]s per [[US dollar]].

===Dates <span class="anchor" id="Dating"></span>===
Slashes are a common [[calendar date]] separator<ref name="solidhart" /> used [[Date format by country|across many countries]] and by some standards such as the [[Common Log Format]] used by web servers. Depending on context, it may be in the form Day/Month/Year, Month/Day/Year, or Year/Month/Day. If only two elements are present, they typically denote a day and month in some order. For example, [[9/11]] is a common American way of writing the date 11 September; Britons write this as 11/9. Owing to the ambiguity across cultures, the practice of using only two elements to denote a date is sometimes proscribed.<ref>{{cite book |title=[[The Chicago Manual of Style]] |edition=16th |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |date=2016 |at=6.106}}</ref>

Because of the world's many varying [[Date and time notation by country|conventional date and time formats]], [[ISO 8601]] advocates the use of a Year-Month-Day system separated by hyphens (e.g., [[Victory in Europe Day]] occurred on 1945-05-08). In the ISO 8601 system, slashes represent date ranges: "1939/1945" represents what is more commonly written in [[Anglophone]] countries as "1939–1945". The autumn term of a northern-hemisphere school year might be marked "2010-09-01/12-22".

In English, a range marked by a slash often has a separate meaning from one marked by a dash or hyphen.<ref name="solidhart" /> "24/25 December" would mark the time shared by both days (i.e., the night from [[Christmas Eve]] to [[Christmas Day|Christmas morning]]) rather than the time made up by both days together, which would be written "24–25 December". Similarly, a historical reference to "1066/67" might imply an event occurred during the winter of late 1066 and early 1067,<ref>{{cite book |title=[[The Chicago Manual of Style]] |edition=16th |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |date=2016 |at=6.105}}</ref> whereas a reference to 1066–67 would cover the entirety of both years. The usage was particularly common in British English during [[World War II]], where such slash dates were used for [[night-bombing]] [[strategic bombing|air raids]]. It is also used by some police forces in the United States.

===Numbering===
The slash is used in numbering to note totals. For example, "page 17/35" indicates that the relevant passage is on the 17th page of a 35-page document. Similarly, the marking "#333/500" on a product indicates it is the 333rd out of 500 identical products or out of a batch of 500 such products. For scores on schoolwork, in games, and so on, "85/100" indicates 85 points were attained out of a possible 100.

Slashes are also sometimes used to mark ranges in numbers that already include hyphens or dashes. One example is the [[#Dating|ISO treatment of dating]]. Another is the [[US Air Force]]'s treatment of aircraft serial numbers, which are normally written to note the fiscal year and aircraft number. For example, "85-1000" notes the thousandth aircraft ordered in fiscal year 1985. To indicate the next fifty subsequent aircraft, a slash is used in place of a hyphen or dash: "85-1001/1050".

===Linguistic transcription===
{{main|International Phonetic Alphabet#Brackets and transcription delimiters}}
A pair of slashes (as "[[#slants|slants]]") are used in the [[Transcription (linguistics)|transcription]] of [[speech]] to enclose [[pronunciation]]s (i.e., [[phonetic transcription]]s). For example, the [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] transcription of the English pronunciation of "solidus" is written {{IPA|/ˈsɒlɪdəs/}}.<ref name="oedsolid" /> Properly, slashes mark [[phonemic transcription|broad or phonemic transcriptions]], whereas narrow, [[allophone|allophonic]] transcriptions are enclosed by [[square bracket]]s. For example, the word ''little'' may be broadly rendered as {{IPA|/ˈlɪtəl/}} but a careful transcription of the [[dark L|velarization of the second L]] would be written {{IPA|[ˈlɪɾɫ̩]}}.

In [[sociolinguistics]], a double or triple slash may also be used in the transcription of a [[Sociolinguistics#Sociolinguistic interview|traditional sociolinguistic interview]] or in other type of linguistic elicitation to represent simultaneous speech, interruptions, and certain types of [[speech disfluencies]].

Single and double slashes are often used as typographic substitutes for the [[click letter]]s [[ǀ]], [[ǁ]].

A [[diaphoneme|diaphonemic]] transcription may be marked in several ways, e.g. with a pair of slash marks ({{IPA //|◌}}).

===Poetry===
The slash is used in various [[scansion]] notations for representing the metrical pattern of a line of verse, typically to indicate a stressed syllable.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

===Line breaks===
The slash (as a "virgule") offset by spaces to either side is used to mark [[Line (poetry)|line breaks]] when transcribing text from a multi-line format into a single-line one.<ref name="solidhart" /><ref>{{cite book |title=[[The Chicago Manual of Style]] |edition=16th |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |date=2016 |at=13.27}}</ref> It is particularly common in quoting [[poetry]], [[lyrics|song lyrics]], and [[drama]]tic scripts, formats where omitting the line breaks risks losing meaningful context. For example, here is a part of [[Hamlet]]'s [[soliloquy]]:

{{poemquote|
[[To be, or not to be]], that is the question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them...|''[[Hamlet]]'', Act II, Scene ii<ref>{{cite book |last=Shakespeare |first=William |author-link=William Shakespeare |author-mask=Shakespeare |title=[[Hamlet]] |at=Act III, Scene II}}</ref>}}{{full citation needed|date=September 2023|reason=Cite a specific edition and page number.}}

If someone wanted to quote the above soliloquy in a prose paragraph, it is standard to mark the line breaks as follows: "To be, or not to be, that is the {{nowrap|question: /}} Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to {{nowrap|suffer /}} The slings and arrows of outrageous {{nowrap|[[Fortune (goddess)|Fortune]], /}} Or to take arms against a sea of {{nowrap|troubles, /}} And by opposing end them..." Less often, virgules are used in marking [[paragraph]] breaks when quoting a [[prose]] passage. Some style guides, such as ''[[New Hart's Rules|New Hart's]]'', prefer to use a pipe {{char|{{!}}}} in place of the slash to mark these line and paragraph breaks.<ref name="solidhart" />

The virgule may be thinner than a standard slash when typeset. In computing contexts, it may be necessary to use a [[non-breaking space]] before the virgule to prevent it from being [[widows and orphans|widowed]] on the next line.

===Abbreviation <span class="anchor" id="Derived units"></span>===
The slash has become standard in several abbreviations. Generally, it is used to mark two-letter [[initialism]]s such as A/C (short for "air conditioner"), w/o ("without"), b/w ("black and white" or, less often, "between"), w/e ("whatever" or, less often, "weekend" or "week ending"), i/o ("[[input/output]]"), r/w ("read/write"), and n/a ("not applicable"). Other initialisms employing the slash include w/ ("with") and w/r/t ("with regard to"). Such slashed abbreviations are somewhat more common in British English and were more common around the [[Second World War]] (as with "S/E" to mean "single-engined"). The abbreviation 24/7 (denoting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) describes a business that is always open or unceasing activity.<ref name="solidhart" />

The slash in [[derived unit]]s such as m/s (meters per second) is not an abbreviation slash, but a straight division. It is however in that position read as 'per' rather than e.g. 'over', which can be seen as analogous to units whose symbols are pure abbreviations such as mph (miles per hour), although in abbreviations 'per' is 'p' or dropped entirely (psi, pounds per square inch) rather than a slash.<!-- Negative example because previous content erroneously claimed the opposite. -->

In the [[Government of the United States|US government]], the names of offices within various departments are abbreviated using slashes, starting with the larger office and following with its subdivisions. For example, the [[Federal Aviation Administration]]'s [[Office of Commercial Space Transportation]] is formally abbreviated FAA/AST.

===Proofreading===
The slash or vertical bar (as a "[[#separatrix|separatrix]]") is used in [[proofreading]] to mark the end of [[marginalia|margin notes]]{{efn|For an example of this in practice, see the section on proofreading marks in ''[[New Hart's Rules]]''.<ref>{{cite book |contribution=Marking Proofs |at=2.4 |title=New Hart's Rules: The Oxford Style Guide |edition=2nd |editor-first=Anne |editor-last=Waddingham |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>}} or to separate margin notes from one another. The slash is also sometimes used in various proofreading [[#Abbreviation|initialisms]], such as l/c and u/c for changes to [[lower case|lower]] and [[upper case]], respectively.

===Typist===
In formal business correspondence, when a letter is typed by someone other than the person responsible for its contents, it is standard to add a suffix with the initials of the author (in upper-case), and typist (in lower-case) after the signature block, separated by a slash.  For example, a letter typed by D.E. at the direction of A.B.C. would include the line "ABC/de".<ref>{{cite web |title=How to Indicate a Typist's Initials in a Letter |first=Kristen |last=Hamlin |date=7 August 2017 |website=Pen and the Pad |url=https://penandthepad.com/how-8450891-indicate-typists-initials-letter.html |access-date=2024-11-24}}</ref>

===Fiction===
The slash is used in [[fan fiction]] to mark the [[sexual attraction|romantic pairing]] a piece will focus upon (e.g., a K/S denoted a ''[[Star Trek]]'' story would focus on a sexual relationship between [[James T. Kirk|Kirk]] and [[Spock]]), a usage which developed in the 1970s from the earlier friendship pairings marked by [[ampersand]]s (e.g., K&S). The genre as a whole is now known as [[slash fiction]]. Because it is more generally associated with [[male homosexuality|homosexual male]] relationships, lesbian slash fiction is sometimes distinguished as [[femslash]]. In situations where other pairings occur, the genres may be distinguished as m/m, f/f, and so on.

===Libraries===
The slash is used under the [[AACR2|Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules]] to separate the title of a work from its statement of responsibility (i.e., the listing of its author, director, etc.). Like a [[#Line breaks|line break]], this slash is surrounded by a single space on either side. For example:

* Gone with the Wind / by Margaret Mitchell.
* Star Trek II. The Wrath of Khan [videorecording] / Paramount Pictures.

The format is used in both [[card catalog]]s and online records.

===Addresses===
The slash is sometimes used as an abbreviation for building numbers. For example, in some contexts,{{where?|date=February 2016}} 8/A Evergreen Gardens specifies Apartment 8 in Building A of the residential complex Evergreen Gardens. In the United States, however, such an address refers to the first division of Apartment 8 and is simply a variant of Apartment 8A or 8-A. Similarly in the United Kingdom, an address such as 12/2 Anywhere Road means flat (or apartment) 2 in the building numbered 12 on Anywhere Road.

The slash is also used in the United States in the postal abbreviation for "care of." For example, Judy Smith c/o Bob Smith could be used when Bob Smith is receiving mail on Judy's behalf. Typically, this would be used in a situation where someone is either out of town, in an institution or hotel, or temporarily staying at another's address.

In Spanish address writings, "c/" is used as the abbreviation of "calle" (or "carrer" in Catalan) meaning "street".

===Music===
Slashes are used in [[musical notation]] as an alternative to writing out specific [[musical note|notes]] where it is easier to read than traditional notation or where the player can [[improvisation|improvise]]. They are commonly used to indicate [[chord (music)|chords]] either in place of or in combination with traditional notation, notably in the form of [[slash chord|slash chords]]. For [[drummer]]s, they find use as an indication to continue with a previously indicated style.

===Sports===
A slash is used to mark a [[Spare (bowling)|spare]] (knocking down all ten pins in two throws) when scoring [[ten-pin bowling|ten-pin]] and [[duckpin bowling]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.duckpins.com/scoring.htm |title=Scoring Duckpin Bowling |website=Duckpins.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408041355/http://www.duckpins.com/scoring.htm |archive-date=8 April 2023}}</ref>

===Text messaging <span class="anchor" id="Emoji"></span>===
In online messaging, a slash might be used to imitate the formatting of a chat command (e.g., writing "/fliptable" as though there were such a command) or the closing tags of languages such as HTML (e.g., writing "/endrant" to end a diatribe or "/s" to mark the preceding text as [[Sarcasm|sarcastic]]). A pair of slashes is sometimes used as a way to mark [[italics|italic text]], where no special formatting is available (e.g., /italics/).{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

=== Before an e-signature ===
In legal writing, especially in a pleading, attorneys often sign their name with an "s" that is either enclosed by two slashes or followed by a single slash and preceding the attorney's name.<ref>{{cite web |title=What Does /s/ Mean in a Signature and Why is It Used? |url=https://bizcounsel.com/articles/what-does-s-mean-in-signature |website=BizCounsel |publisher=L. & F. Brown |access-date=1 April 2023 |archive-date=1 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401012555/https://bizcounsel.com/articles/what-does-s-mean-in-signature |url-status=live}}</ref> An example would be the following:

{{Blockquote|text=/s/ Bob Smith{{pb}} Attorney for Plaintiff}}

===As a letter <span class="anchor" id="Letter"></span>===
The [[Iraqw language]] of Tanzania uses the slash as a letter, representing the [[voiced pharyngeal fricative]], as in [[:wikt:/ameeni|/ameeni]], "woman".<ref>Henry R. T. Muzale, Josephat M. Rugemalira, ''Researching and Documenting the Languages of Tanzania'' (2008): "Iraqi orthography includes two letters not used in writing Kiswa-hili, q for the voiceless uvular stop, and x for the voiceless velar fricative. It also uses symbols that are not even part of the Roman alphabet, including a slash / for the pharyngeal fricative, and an apostrophe ' for the glottal stop (Mous et al. 2002)."</ref>

==Spacing==
There are usually no spaces either before or after a slash. According to ''[[New Hart's Rules: The Oxford Style Guide]]'', a slash is usually written without spacing on either side when it connects single words, letters or symbols.<ref name="solidhart" /> Exceptions are in [[Slash (punctuation)#Poetry|representing the start of a new line when quoting verse]], or a new paragraph when quoting prose. ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'' also allows spaces when either of the separated items is a compound that itself includes a space: "Our New Zealand / Western Australia trip".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Punctuation/faq0096.html |title=Punctuation - FAQ Item [CMOS 6.104] |website=The Chicago Manual of Style Online |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321090717/https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Punctuation/faq0096.html |archive-date=21 March 2016 |access-date=11 February 2020}}</ref> (Compare [[Dash#Attributive compounds|use of an en dash used to separate such compounds]].) ''The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing'' prescribes: "No space before or after an oblique when used between individual words, letters or symbols; one space before and after the oblique when used between longer groups which contain internal spacing", giving the examples "n/a" and "Language and Society / ''Langue et société''".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tcdnstyl-chap?lang=eng&lettr=indx166&info0=7.02&info1=9.06 |title=7.02 Spacing, 9.06 |publisher=Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada |date=8 October 2009 |website=btb.termiumplus.gc.ca |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108032043/https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tcdnstyl-chap?lang=eng&lettr=indx166&info0=7.02&info1=9.06 |archive-date=8 November 2018 |access-date=11 February 2020}}</ref>

According to ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', when typesetting a URL or computer path, line breaks should occur before a slash but not in the text between two slashes.<ref>{{cite book |title=[[The Chicago Manual of Style]] |edition=16th |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |date=2016 |at=7.42}}</ref>

==Encoding==
[[File:Big solidus in folder name compared with slash in text.png|thumb|Though the "ASCII slash" is a [[reserved character]] that is prohibited in Windows file and folder names, the '''big solidus''' is permitted (first box above). In this context, it is very similar to the slash (second box).]]
As a very common character, the slash (as "slant") was originally encoded in [[ASCII]] with the decimal code 47 or [[hexadecimal|0x]]2F.<ref name="rfc20" /> The same value was used in [[Unicode]], which calls it "solidus" and also adds some more characters:

* {{unichar|002F|solidus|ulink=Basic Latin (Unicode block)}} (ASCII "slant" or "slash")
* {{unichar|0337|combining short solidus overlay|ulink=Combining Diacritical Marks}} (for [[strikethrough]])
* {{unichar|0338|combining long solidus overlay|ulink=Combining Diacritical Marks}} (for [[strikethrough]])
* {{unichar|2044|fraction slash|ulink=General Punctuation}}
* {{unichar|2215|division slash|ulink=Mathematical Operators}}
* {{unichar|2571|box drawings light diagonal upper right to lower left|ulink=Box Drawing}}
* {{unichar|29F8|big solidus}}
* {{unichar|FF0F|fullwidth solidus}} ([[Halfwidth and fullwidth forms|fullwidth]] version of solidus)
* {{unichar|1F67C|very heavy solidus}}

In XML and HTML, the slash can also be represented with the [[List of XML and HTML character entity references#Character reference overview|character entity]] {{code|&sol;}}&nbsp; or the [[numeric character reference]] {{code|&#47;}}&nbsp; or {{code|&#x2F;}}&nbsp;.<ref>{{cite web|title=Character Codes – HTML Codes, Hexadecimal Codes & HTML Names |url=http://www.character-code.com/ |website=character-code.com |access-date=7 August 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807130637/http://www.character-code.com/ |archive-date=7 August 2016}}</ref>

==Alternative names==

{| class="wikitable"
! Name !! Used for
|-
| ''diagonal'' || An uncommon name for the slash in all its uses,<ref name="oedobli" />
|-
| ''division slash'' || This is the Unicode Consortium's formal name for the variant of the slash used to mark [[#division|division]].<ref name="uni8">{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0000.pdf |title=C0 Controls and Basic Latin |date=2015 |publisher=Unicode Cosortium |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230913063618/https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0000.pdf |archive-date=13 September 2023}}</ref> ({{unichar|2215|Division slash}})
|-
| ''forward slash'' || A [[retronym]] used to distinguish slash from a backslash following the popularization of MS-DOS and other Microsoft operating systems, which use the backslash for paths in its file system.<ref name="jed" /><ref name="turton" /> Less often ''forward stroke'' (UK), ''foreslash'', ''front slash'', and ''frontslash''. It is possible even to see such [[back-formations]] as ''reverse backslash''.<ref>Example of usage of "reverse backslash": {{cite web |url=http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/Q_28409613.html |date=4 October 2014 |access-date=2 October 2014 |work=Experts Exchange |author=Fordraiders |title=Regex pattern to delete a pattern i need for forward backslash and reverse backslash |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416101532/https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28409613/regex-pattern-to-delete-a-pattern-i-need-for-forward-backslash-and-reverse-backslash.html |archive-date=16 April 2023}}</ref>
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| ''{{vanchor|fraction}} slash'' || This is the Unicode Consortium's formal name for the low slash used to mark fractions.<ref name="uni8" /> ({{unichar|2044|Fraction slash}})<br />Also sometimes known as the [[fraction bar]], although this more commonly refers to the horizontal bar style, as in {{sfrac|1|2}}. When used as a fraction bar, this form of the mark is less vertical than an ASCII slash, generally close to 45° and [[kerning|kerned]] on both sides;<ref name="bringhurst">{{cite book |last=Bringhurst |first=Robert |date=2002 |title=The Elements of Typographic Style |edition=3rd |publisher=Hartley & Marks |isbn=978-0-88179-206-5 |pages=81–82 |contribution=5.2.5: Use the Virgule with Words and Dates, the Solidus with Split-level Fractions |location=Point Roberts}}</ref> this use is distinguished by Unicode as the fraction slash.<ref name="uni8" /> (This use is sometimes mistakenly described as the ''sole'' meaning of "solidus", with its use as a shilling mark and slash distinguished under the name "virgule".<ref name="bringhurst" /><ref name="designorati" />)
|-
| ''{{vanchor|oblique}}'' || A formerly common name for the slash in all its uses.<ref name="oedobli" /> Also ''oblique stroke'',<ref name="oedstroke" /><ref name="foldc" /> ''oblique dash'', etc.
|-
| <span class="anchor" id="scratch"></span>{{nowrap|''{{vanchor|scratch comma}}''}} || A modern name for the virgule's historic use as a form of comma.<ref>{{cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=1st |contribution=scratch, ''n.¹'' |date=1911 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>
|-
| ''separatrix'' || Originally, the [[vertical line]] separating integers from decimals before the advent of the [[decimal point]]; later used for the vertical bar or slash used in [[proofreader]]'s marginalia to denote the intended replacement for a letter or word [[strikethrough|struckthrough]] in proofed text<ref>{{cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=1st |contribution=separatrix, ''n.'' |date=1912 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> or to separate margin notes.<ref>{{cite web |title=separatrix |work=Merriam-Webster Online |access-date=11 February 2016 |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/separatrix |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230708105311/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/separatrix |archive-date=8 July 2023}}</ref> Sometimes misapplied to virgules.
|-
|''{{vanchor|shilling}} mark'' || A development of the [[long S]] {{char|'''ſ'''}} used as an abbreviation for the (obsolete) [[Shilling (British coin)|British shilling]] ({{langx|la|[[solidus (coin)|solidus]]}}),<ref name="oedshill" /> and also for some modern-day currencies (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Somalia), where it sometimes takes the place of a decimal point. The 'slash' is known as a "shilling stroke".<ref name="Eckersley et al" />
|-
|<span class="anchor" id="slants"></span>''{{vanchor|slant}}'' || From its shape, an infrequent name except (as ''slants'') in its use to mark pronunciations off from other text<ref>{{cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=1st |contribution=slant, ''n.¹'' |date=1911 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> and as the original [[ASCII]] name of the character.{{ref RFC|20}} Also ''slant line(s)'' or ''bar(s)''.<ref name="jed" />
|-
| ''slash mark'' || An alternative name used to distinguish the punctuation mark from the word's other senses.<ref>{{cite dictionary | dictionary= Webster's Third New International Dictionary |date=1961 |entry =Slash (n) |quote='''5''' ''also'' slash mark: {{resize|DIAGONAL : 4}} |url=https://archive.org/details/webstersthirdnew0000phil/page/2138/mode/1up}}</ref>
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| ''slat'' || An uncommon name for the slash used by the [[esoteric programming language]] [[INTERCAL]].<ref name="foldc" /> Also ''slak''.<ref name="foldc">{{cite web |last=Howe |first=Denis<!--sic--> |title=oblique stroke |url=http://foldoc.org/oblique+stroke |work=Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing |date=1996 |access-date=24 July 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609012428/http://foldoc.org/oblique+stroke |archive-date=9 June 2023}}</ref>
|-
| ''solidus'' || Another name for the mark (derived from the Latin form of 'shilling'), also applied to other slashes separating numbers or letters,<ref name="oedsolid" /> used in typography,<ref name="bringhurst" /> and adopted by the [[International Standards Organization|ISO]] and [[Unicode Consortium|Unicode]]<ref name="uni8" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/Public/1.1-Update/UnicodeData-1.1.5.txt |title=Unicode 1.1 Composite Name List, including default properties |date=5 July 1995 |work=Unicode.org |publisher=Unicode Consortium |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230516193350/https://www.unicode.org/Public/1.1-Update/UnicodeData-1.1.5.txt |archive-date=16 May 2023}}</ref> as their formal name for the ASCII slash ("slant"). ({{unichar|002F|Solidus}})

The solidus's use as a division sign is distinguished as the division slash.<ref name="uni8" />
|-
| ''stroke'' || A contraction of the phrase [[#oblique|oblique stroke]], used in [[telegraph]]y.<ref name="oedstroke">{{cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=1st |contribution=stroke, ''n.¹'' |date=1919 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> It is particularly employed in reading the mark out loud: "he stroke she" is a common British reading of "he/she". "Slash" has, however, become common in Britain in computing contexts, while some North American [[amateur radio]] enthusiasts employ the British "stroke". Less frequently, "stroke" is also used to refer to hyphens.<ref name="jed" />
|-
| ''{{vanchor|virgule}}'' || A development of ''virgula'' ("twig"),<ref name="virg" /> the original medieval Latin name of the character when it was used as a scratch comma and caesura mark.<ref name="virg" />  Now primarily used as the name of the slash when it is used to mark line breaks in quotations.{{cn|date=September 2023}} Sometimes mistakenly distinguished as a formal name for the slash, as against the solidus's supposed use as a fraction slash.<ref name="bringhurst" /><ref name="designorati">{{cite web |last=Klein |first=Samuel John |url=http://designorati.com/articles/t1/typography/693/typography-words-of-the-day-slashes.php |title=Typography Words of the Day: Slashes |work=Designorati |date=3 March 2006 |access-date=16 February 2016 |archive-date=24 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224122041/http://designorati.com/articles/t1/typography/693/typography-words-of-the-day-slashes.php |url-status=live}}</ref> Formerly sometimes [[anglicization|anglicized]] in British sources as the ''virgil''.<ref name="partridge" />
|}

The slash may also be read out as ''and'', ''or'', ''and/or'', ''to'', or ''cum''<!--sic--> in some compounds separated by a slash; ''over'' or ''out of'' in fractions, division, and [[#Numbering|numbering]]; and ''per'' or ''a(n)'' in derived units (as km/h) and prices (as $~/kg), where the division slash stands for "each".<ref name="jed" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Slash |url=http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/slash.html |work=The Punctuation Guide |access-date=11 February 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512141748/http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/slash.html |archive-date=12 May 2023}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Strikethrough]], including slashes through figures
* [[Feynman slash notation]] in physics, which employs slash-like strikethroughs
* [[≠|Inequality sign]], an equals sign with a slash-like strikethrough

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{navbox punctuation}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slash, Punctuation}}
[[Category:Punctuation]]