11. Escapes and quotes
Inside a string literal, a backslash \ starts an escape sequence: two characters that represent one special character. The backslash itself is not printed.
| Escape | Character |
|---|---|
\n | newline (moves to the next line) |
\t | tab |
\\ | one literal backslash |
\" | a double quote inside a "..." string |
\' | a single quote inside a '...' string |
Because a backslash is special, a Windows path must escape each one: "C:\\Users\\ada". To avoid escaping, prefix the string with r to make a raw string: r"C:\Users\ada". In a raw string every backslash is printed literally and escape sequences are not interpreted.
A quote only needs escaping when it is the same as the quote that opens the string. "She said \"hi\"" needs \", while 'She said "hi"' does not.
Write a newline inside a string
\n is an escape sequence: it represents a newline inside a string, without ending the string.
Print "Line one" and "Line two" on two separate lines by putting \n between them in one string.
Print exactly:
Create a free account to save your progress and unlock chapter 2.
Write a tab
\t is the escape sequence for a tab character. It moves the cursor to the next tab stop, so the two words are separated by a wide gap.
Print a string made of "Name", a tab and "Age".
The gap between the two words is one tab character, not a run of spaces.
Print exactly:
Create a free account to save your progress and unlock chapter 2.
Write a literal backslash
A backslash starts an escape sequence, so to print one backslash you write it twice: \\.
Print the path C:\Users\ada by escaping each backslash in the string.
Print exactly:
Create a free account to save your progress and unlock chapter 2.
Escape an apostrophe
When a string is written with single quotes, an apostrophe inside it must be escaped as \'.
Print It's "Python" using single quotes around the string and escaping the apostrophe.
Print exactly:
Create a free account to save your progress and unlock chapter 2.
Use a raw string
A raw string starts with r before the quotes. Escape sequences are not interpreted, so every backslash is printed exactly as written.
Print C:\new\table using a raw string, so \n and \t stay as backslashes instead of becoming a newline and a tab.
Print exactly:
Create a free account to save your progress and unlock chapter 2.