A whack or wack describes a backslash commonly used in a computer folder or network folder path. Below are examples of the use of a whack.

Computer folder & file path

C Windows System32 system.ini

is equal to

C:\Windows\System32\system.ini

In a computer folder & file path, the whack is used after the drive letter, which is “C:” (C colon) in the above example.

A whack sometimes describes a forward slash, such as in an Internet URL. However, a forward slash is more often called a “slash.”

A whack is also used after each folder in the folder path. In the example above, “Windows” and “System32” are the folder names in the path.

Lastly, “system.ini” is the file name listed last in the folder & file path.

Network folder path

ComputerHope Help Laptops

is equal to

\ComputerHope\Help\Laptops

In a network directory path, the whack is used twice at the beginning of the path. Usually, the name of the networked computer containing the shared directory is listed after the first two whacks. In the example above, “ComputerHope” is the name of the network server.

After the server name, a whack is used again, followed by a directory name. If there are multiple directories in the network path, a whack is used between each directory name. In the example above, “Help” and “Laptops” are the directory names.

Bang, Dub-dub-dub, Forward slash, Keyboard terms, Slash

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