Switch Config File – Meaning of ‘!’ and ‘.’

Networkswitch

what do the ! and . mean in switch config files?

Current configuration: 1363 bytes
!
version 12.1
no service pad
service timestamps debug uptime
service timestamps log uptime
no service password-encryption
!
hostname Switch A
!
Command Purpose
Step 1 configure terminal Enter global configuration mode.
enable secret 5 $1$ej9.$DMUvAUnZOAmvmgqBEzIxE0
!
.
<output truncated>
.
interface gigabitethernet0/1
ip address 172.20.137.50 255.255.255.0
!
interface gigabitethernet0/2
mvr type source
<output truncated>
...!
interface VLAN1
 ip address 172.20.137.50 255.255.255.0
 no ip directed-broadcast
!
ip default-gateway 172.20.137.1 !
!
snmp-server community private RW
snmp-server community public RO
snmp-server community private@es0 RW
snmp-server community public@es0 RO
snmp-server chassis-id 0x12
!
end 

Best Answer

In a Cisco environment, when utilizing show running-config and show startup-config the exclamation (!) points are only there to help in formatting the output to make it more readable and create space between sections in the config.

The period (.) is used to truncate (remove) long sections of config, that is identical.

They do not have any other meaning.

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