How do you tell the difference between a backslash and a forwardslash?

Think of it this way: we read left to right. Which slash is leaning forward (left to right) and which is leaning back (right to left)?

/ = forward
\ = back

/ forward slash because it leans forward.
\ backward slash because it leans backward.

@hmmmmmm and @chyna Thanks.

This is what I think makes it easy to remember, hopefully it helps.

The symbol you use all the time, and grew up using, like for fractions ¾, ¼, and so on is the forward slash. That’s all you have to remember about that.

Also, forward slash when I was growing up was simply slash. So, it’s really slash and backslash in my opinion. “Back” to me is like opposite. Opposite direction of the slash.

Can’t contribute much else.

Handwriting is the sane way. People’s handwriting typically leans forward, as in italics, or is reserved and leans backward. Forward leaning handwriting leans the direction of a forward slash, or fractions as @JLeslie points out. Forward handwriting is atypical of enthusiastic, zealous, outgoing people.

Backslash is reserved, back-leaning handwriting. and atypical of people who are shy and hold back.

Excellent question. I think people with learning disabilities, like I have, who sometimes wrote things backward in their earliest school years, have more difficulty making the distinction, as I often do.

Didn’t you ask this before? This is most likely what I answered previously.

Moving left to right, think of slashes as staircases. Forward slash, ”/”, is an up staircase and backslash, ”\”, is a down staircase.

Forward slash up staircase.
_________/
_______>/

Backward slash down staircase
_______\_<
________\

Of course, you could go up or down a staircase from either side…

But in only one way to travel from left to right.

The forward slash”/” leans to the right. While the back slash ”\” leans to the left.