Handling long command lines

Using long command lines can be a source of error. One way to ease the use of long command lines is to split them on several lines. It can be done under Windows, MAC OS and linux.

Under Windows, you use the "caret" (^).
Under MAC OS and linux, you use the character "\".

By using this notation you can make things clearer.

Example for Windows

The following line can be splited into several lines:

dir \ /s |find "i" |more

Is equivalent to:

dir \ /s ^
    |find "i" ^
    |more

Note : Make sure that there is no "blank character" (space or tabulation) after the "caret". The "caret" must be the last character of the line.

Example for MAC OS and Linux

The following line can be splited into several lines:

mysql -h localhost -u root -pmyPasswd --port=3306 mydb

mysql -h localhost \
      -u root \
      -pmyPasswd \
      --port=3306 \
      mydb

Note : Make sure that there is no "blank character" (space or tabulation) after the character "\". The character "\" must be the last character of the line.