RE: why does command echo \\\foobar print \\foobar

[Paul Smith]

On Sat, 2010-02-06 at 20:56 -0800, Mark Galeck (CW) wrote:
> But Paul, one more thing, where does it say in the manual, that it
> should be \foobar (one slash).

It doesn't say anywhere in the manual, because this has nothing to do
with GNU make.  Make does not actually RUN the commands that you write,
it passes the commands to the shell and lets the shell run them.  So,
with only the exceptions that ARE described in the manual for special
characters that make cares about, make doesn't do anything to the
commands including reducing backslashes.

Certainly I'm not going to reproduce the documentation for the shell
inside the GNU make manual: that documentation already exists elsewhere.

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Paul D. Smith <address@hidden>          Find some GNU make tips at:
 http://www.gnu.org                      http://make.mad-scientist.net
 "Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist