In Python a string is written in quotes. Sometimes we may want to include an apostrophe, quote, a tab or a new line.
Example code:
One way of fixing this is to use a different set of quotation marks.
Example code:
To include tabs, quotes, backslashes and new lines we would have to use some special character to let Python know we are inserting them. These special characters are called escape characters.
The escape character ‘\’ (backslash) is a special character that helps us include quotes. A backslash is added before the ‘ sign. (\’ or \”). Using it lets Python know that the following quotation mark ‘ or “ is not the end of the string. Escape characters will not be printed in the output.
Example code:
If we want to insert a new line in the string we would use \n.
Example code:
Escape characters at a glance:
| Escape Sequence | What does it do? | Example code | Output |
| \\ | Prints backslash | print('This is a backslash: \\') | This is a backslash: \ |
| \t | Prints a tab | print('This is a:\tTab') | This is a Tab |
| \’ | Prints single quote | print('A single quote: \'') | A single quote: ' |
| \” | Prints double quotes | print('A double quote: \"') | A double quote: " |
| \n | Inserts a new line | print('First line\nSecond line') | First line Second line |
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