frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Ask HN: Why do readmes still use $ in copy-pasteable commands?

3•garyfirestorm•6mo ago
I often encounter this in docs/readmes `$ ls -lt` often renders with a copy button that you can easily click and when you paste it in terminal it shows up as `$ ls -lt` with an unnecessary $ causing an error $ command not found or something like that... wouldn't it make sense to just have `ls -lt` and not add the $ in front of it?

Comments

rzzzwilson•6mo ago
The "$" prompt is shorthand to indicate the command is run as a non-root user. If you see "# ls -lt" that indicates the command should be run as root. The problem lies with whoever set up the copy button to include the prompt as part of the copied command.
garyfirestorm•6mo ago
this is a widespread problem - many libraries, git repos follow this convention unfortunately
gibbitz•6mo ago
How do you specify this on GitHub markdown?
perrygeo•6mo ago
It's used in documentation mostly to distinguish the command from stdout. And it's verbatim what you see if you copy-paste from most default bash shells.

AI's Real Problem Is Illegitimacy, Not Hallucination

1•JanusPater•1m ago•0 comments

'I fell into it': ex-criminal hackers urge UK pupils to use web skills for good

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/08/i-fell-into-it-ex-criminal-hackers-urge-manche...
1•robaato•1m ago•0 comments

Why 175-Year-Old Glassmaker Corning Is Suddenly an AI Superstar

https://www.wsj.com/tech/corning-fiber-optics-ai-e045ba3b
1•bookofjoe•2m ago•1 comments

Keeping WSL Alive

https://shift1w.com/blog/keeping-wsl-alive/
1•jakesocks•3m ago•0 comments

Unlocking core memories with GoldSrc engine and CS 1.6 (2025)

https://www.danielbrendel.com/blog/43-unlocking-core-memories-with-goldsrc-engine
2•foxiel•4m ago•0 comments

Gtrace an advanced network path analysis tool

https://github.com/hervehildenbrand/gtrace
2•jimaek•4m ago•0 comments

America does not trust Putin or Trump

https://re-russia.net/en/review/809/
1•mnky9800n•8m ago•0 comments

Let's Do Music in Linux [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHgsOdoLuBU
1•mariuz•9m ago•0 comments

"Nothing" is the secret to structuring your work

https://www.vangemert.dev/blog/nothing
1•spmvg•13m ago•0 comments

AI Makes the Easy Part Easier and the Hard Part Harder

https://www.blundergoat.com/articles/ai-makes-the-easy-part-easier-and-the-hard-part-harder
1•birdculture•14m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Fine-tuned Qwen2.5-7B on 100 films for probabilistic story graphs

https://cinegraphs.ai/
1•graphpilled•14m ago•1 comments

A failed wantrepreneur's view on common startup advice

https://developerwithacat.com/blog/202602/startup-advice/
1•mmarian•14m ago•0 comments

Show HN: BestClaw Simple OpenClaw/MoltBot for non tech people

https://bestclaw.host/
1•nihey•15m ago•0 comments

AI is making me anxious and stupid

https://tom.so/posts/ai-is-making-me-anxious-and-stupid
1•tomupom•18m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Real-time path tracing of medical CT volumes in the browser via WebGPU

https://grenzwert.net/
1•MickGorobets•22m ago•1 comments

United States – Crypto Scam Help – Intelligence Cyber Wizard Safe Guide

1•Forensics•25m ago•0 comments

What to Do After a Crypto Scam (USA) Intelligence Cyber Wizard Explained

1•Forensics•26m ago•0 comments

The Physics of 588: A 17.64μm Isolation Barrier Strategy for 5nm Process

https://github.com/eggpine84-del/NHE-CODING
1•eggpine84•26m ago•0 comments

My Eighth Year as a Bootstrapped Founder

https://mtlynch.io/bootstrapped-founder-year-8/
1•mtlynch•27m ago•0 comments

Data Modelling Open Source

https://github.com/sqlmodel/sqlmodel
1•Sean766•30m ago•0 comments

Mid-life transitions

https://blogs.gnome.org/chergert/2026/02/06/mid-life-transitions/
2•pabs3•30m ago•0 comments

My Airships – My "No. 9," the Little Runabout

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/My_Airships/Chapter_22
1•interstice•31m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Portview, A diagnostic-first port viewer for Linux (~930 KB, zero deps)

https://github.com/Mapika/portview
4•Mapika•31m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Claude has a compiler, I have SlopScript

https://slopscript.netlify.app/
1•hiten_sharma•34m ago•0 comments

Context Is Part of the Game

https://joy.pm/context-is-part-of-the-code/
1•rafadc•35m ago•0 comments

Dave Farber has passed away

https://lists.nanog.org/archives/list/nanog@lists.nanog.org/thread/TSNPJVFH4DKLINIKSMRIIVNHDG5XKJCM/
17•vitplister•35m ago•3 comments

Researchers find brain mechanism behind 'flashes of intuition'

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-brain-mechanism-intuition.html
1•pseudolus•38m ago•0 comments

Extracting Xcode's Claude Code Prompt

https://www.jackpearce.co.uk/posts/extracting-xcodes-claude-code-prompt
1•jkpe•38m ago•0 comments

AI is not another abstraction because god plays dice

https://rakhim.exotext.com/ai_is_not_another_abstraction_because_god_plays_dice
3•freetonik•39m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Tandem – An open-source, local-first AI workspace (Rust and React)

1•frumu•42m ago•0 comments