Conventions Used in This Book

The following is a list of the typographical conventions used in this book:

Italic

Used for emphasis and new terms where they are defined, as well as to indicate Unix utilities, URLs, filenames, filename extensions, and directory/folder names. For example, a path in the filesystem will appear as /usr/local.

Constant width

Used to show code examples, the contents of files, and console output, as well as the names of variables, commands, and other code excerpts.

Constant

width

bold

Used to highlight portions of code, either for emphasis or to indicate text that should be typed by the user.

Constant width italic

Used in code examples to show sample text to be replaced with your own values.

Gray type

Used to indicate a cross-reference within the text.

Used in file contents at the end of a line of code to indicate that it carries over to the following line because of space limitations. You should enter these lines as one line in the actual files.

You should pay special attention to notes set apart from the text with the following icons:

This is a tip, suggestion, or general note. It contains useful supplementary information about the topic at hand.

This is a warning or note of caution, often indicating that your money or your privacy might be at risk.

The thermometer icons, found next to each hack, indicate the relative complexity of the hack: