What is the difference between $ and # signs in Linux environment. As I started working on Linux and I found that both are different. I mean they do have different set of privileges.. ?
[root@localhost ~]#
and [tom@localhost ~]$
.
What is the difference between $ and # signs in Linux environment. As I started working on Linux and I found that both are different. I mean they do have different set of privileges.. ?
[root@localhost ~]#
and [tom@localhost ~]$
.
In short, if the screen shows a dollar sign ($
) or hash (#
) on the left of the blinking cursor, you are in the command line environment.
$
, #
, %
symbols indicate the user account type you are logged in to.
$
) means you are a normal user.#
) means you are the system administrator (root).%
).There are differences on prompts in different Unix or GNU/Linux distributions because of their default settings. For example, the prompt of Debian/Ubuntu is guest@linux:~$
, the one of Fedora/CentOS/RedHat is [guest@linux ~]$
and the one of SuSE Linux/OpenSUSE is guest@linux:~>
. In general, the prompt usually show the login user name, machine hostname and current working directory and ended with a dollar ($), percentage (%) or hash (#) sign.
guest@linux:~$
guest
- username: the user account you are logged in to.linux
- machine hostname: the machine you are operating.~
- current working directory: the directory you are in. Tilde (~
) means home directory, i.e. the default directory when first logging in.