Why does dt$ not delete until the end of line?

Question

I understand that the right way to delete until the end of line is d$, but why does dt$ not work also?

Answer 1

Because t takes a character, so it looking for a literal $ character, not a motion like end of line

Answer 2

t (and its variants T, f and F) take a single character afterwards to denote the target of motion within the line.

So the effects of the two commands are:

• d$ - delete to end of current line
• dt$ - delete up-to-but-not-including a literal $ on the current line