Special Characters

 
*              		 match any character

<            		 redirect standard input

>            		 redirect standard output

           		 redirect standard output and standard error (C shell)

12         		 redirect standard output to same place as standard error 
                  (Bourne shell)

|            		 send standard output of first command to standard input of second command

&             		 put job in background

!              		 repeat command (C shell)

            		 concatanate several commands on one line

              		 continuation character; command continues on next line

. file         		 execute "file" (Bourne shell; equivalent is "source" in C shell)

#             		 start of a comment

#          		 should be the first two characters of the first line of a 
                  shell script

               		 and should be followed by the path of the shell to be 
                  executed (on

               		 most systems)