What is a Forward Slash? - Its Location and Best Uses

The forward slash is used in various fields/ industries or languages. Everyone is known with this high functionality symbol. In article we will discuss all its uses like in math, general communication, coding etc. So, let’s get started.

Forward slash is a punctuation mark representing as oblique (slanting line). It has different names reflecting its purpose in different fields and industries. The origin of slash can be seen from early writing.

It is pioneered as a variant of vertical strokes or dashes mainly to distinguish a thing/ word from the other. The current derivation of the slash is taken from the Medieval European Virgule.

In the 18^th century, this mark was commonly named as oblique. In computer language, it is one of the characters available on the keyboard for expressing the sense of different uses.

In simple words, this symbol or character can describe network addresses, URLs, Addresses, mathematical formulas in division, comparison, and dates. In Unicode, it is known as solidus or oblique stroke. Some other names of forwarding slash are virgule, whack, etc.

Where Forward Slash Locates?

Looking for a forward slash is very simple. There are mainly two kinds of keyboards. The one having numbers on the top below function keys and the other keyboard has a numeric pad on the right side of it. So, you can find a forward slash on both the panels. So, in the main keyboard forward slash is available on the right side of the right shift below the enter button. Whereas in numeric keypad forward slash is available on the top row and second column, there it is denoting its calculator functionality of division.

How to Create Forward Slash?

To create a forward slash on an English keyboard simply your PC’s keyboard, you can find the button next to the right shift button. Press it and it will put the slash. Whereas,

If you want to put forward slash in Smartphone/ tablet. Then open the keyboard, press number keys, and then symbols from there you can press slash key.

Uses of Forwarding Slash

The forward slash is commonly in use in various fields/ industries or languages. Everyone is known with this high functionality symbol. So, some of its day to day uses to understand what forward slash is are as follows:

To Enter URL or Web Address

We put many URLs and open websites. Have you realized that you put this forward slash in the web address? How common and underrated this symbol is. Isn’t it? For example,

https://etipsguruji.com/

Here is the address of our website. Where you can see we need to put three forward slashes to reach the correct address. Any error in this can show you an error.

Use in Math Formula

Math, Oops the big danger, yeah! We will not go into scientific mathematics. Relax!

Whether you are a mathematician or just hate mathematics like me. But you must have use division in your whole life. We simply divide certain amounts. In simple words when we calculate per kg rate of fruits we bought from the market. We are using this forward slash. For example:

If I bought 2 kg apples for Rs 150 and now I want to know its price per kg. So, I need to divide this amount as:

150/ 2= 75

Thus, 1 kg of apples cost me Rs 75.

Here we used forward slash as division symbol.

Use in Date to Separate Day, Month and Year

In the world functionalities and day to day activities, the forward slash is the common symbol to separate year, month, and day. I hope you get it. Everyone needs to put the date. Let’s see an example for better understanding.

20/06/2020
DD/MM/YYYY

There are some other symbols also to divide DD-MM-YYYY, though / is very common.

Use in Computer Programming to Show Non-Executable Statement

Does your computer programming have different standards and symbols have assigned different meanings as per ASSCI standards? So, to enter a non-executable statement, we need to put forward slash. In PHP code, the hidden text that must not show to the viewer, the statement needs to surrounded by/.

For example,

<?php
/* hidden text */
Echo “hello world”
?/

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Use in XML and HTML for Closing Tags

In markup languages like XML and HTML, you can use a forward slash for closing the tags. The purpose of using this symbol in a tag is to let the browser/ code reader knows that here the tag ends. For a better understanding, below is the example for paragraph tag defining text to be in paragraph form.

<p> paragraph text </p>

Forward slash with the tag shows the closing of the paragraph.

Use in the Command Line to switch Program Options

In the Windows command line and MS-DOS, the forward slash is used to perform a switch or execute a command option. For explaining more, below is the dir command example showing directory listing of one page at a particular time.

Dir /p

Use in Spreadsheet

Microsoft’s widely used spreadsheet programs use forward slash to insert formula. The formulae are always getting the value from cells and to add required/ selected cells. We need to put the combination for example:

To perform addition function in the spreadsheet, the formula is:

= SUM (A1/B1)

The slash shows function and relation between A1 and B1.

Use as a Regular Expression Delimiter

In common language, slash is known as a separator. Generally, different variables are delimiter/ separated using a slash.

Example: a/b/d/e

Use in file storage path to separate directories and files

You must use this function of slash. To store any file in your system. You need to give it a path.

For example, let’s save this file on the desktop.

The file name is what is forward slash? So, while saving this file on the system desktop under the etipsguruji folder. The path generated will be:

https://etipsguruji.com/what-is-a-forward-slash-its-location-and-uses/

General FAQs

What is the meaning of the forwarding slash in the text?

Ans. In simple text, the forward slash is used to distinguish two factors. Like,

Sir/Madam; President/Senator; Fruits/ vegetables

To denote fractions:

One and a half (1/2)
Two-third (2/3)

To denote measurements

Like we already have discusses one example of per kg apples.

Apple costs RS 75/ kg.
Diesel costs RS 65/liter.

What is the meaning of two forward slashes?

Ans. Two forward slashes are used in a programming language like C, C++, JS, or Java to start a ‘single line comment’.

What is the alternative of forwarding slash?

Ans. Some of the alternatives of the forward-slash are comma “,”; Hyphen “-“; Period “.” Etc. The use of alternatives only depends upon the type of functionality.