Dollar character before double quotes in Bash

Question

I recently read some bash code, echo $"asdf", what is $ for?

What is the difference between $"asdf" and just "asdf"?

Possible duplicate of [What are the special dollar sign shell variables?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5163144/what-are-the-special-dollar-sign-shell-variables) and [What does it mean to have a $“dollarsign-prefixed string” in a script?](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/48106/what-does-it-mean-to-have-a-dollarsign-prefixed-string-in-a-script) — Andre Figueiredo, Aug 10 '17 at 16:57

score 11 · Answer 1 · answered May 21 '13 at 08:31

11

As documented in the bash manual, it is used for localization:

A double-quoted string preceded by a dollar sign (‘$’) will cause the string to be translated according to the current locale. If the current locale is C or POSIX, the dollar sign is ignored. If the string is translated and replaced, the replacement is double-quoted.

answered May 21 '13 at 08:31

dogbane

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1

Could you give an example demonstrating when this actually has an influence on the outcome? – Alfe May 21 '13 at 08:33
1

wow I just learned something new today, it's a good day (+1) :) – ant May 21 '13 at 08:41

Dollar character before double quotes in Bash

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