Python - Escape Characters

In Python, a string becomes a raw string if it is prefixed with "r" or "R" before the quotation symbols. Hence 'Hello' is a normal string whereas r'Hello' is a raw string.

>>> normal="Hello"
>>> print (normal)
Hello
>>> raw=r"Hello"
>>> print (raw)
Hello

In normal circumstances, there is no difference between the two. However, when the escape character is embedded in the string, the normal string actually interprets the escape sequence, whereas the raw string doesn't process the escape character.

>>> normal="Hello\nWorld"
>>> print (normal)
Hello
World
>>> raw=r"Hello\nWorld"
>>> print (raw)
Hello\nWorld

In the above example, when a normal string is printed the escape character '\n' is processed to introduce a newline. However, because of the raw string operator 'r' the effect of escape character is not translated as per its meaning.

Escape Character

An escape character is a character followed by a backslash (\) that tells to the Interpreter that this escape character (sequence) has a special meaning.

Example

The newline character \n is one of the escape sequences identified by Python. Escape sequence invokes an alternative implementation character subsequence to "\". In Python, "\" is used as escape character. Following table shows list of escape sequences.

Unless an 'r' or 'R' prefix is present, escape sequences in string and bytes literals are interpreted according to rules similar to those used by Standard C. The recognized escape sequences are −

Escape Characters in Python

The following table shows the different escape characters used in Python -

Sr.No Escape Sequence & Meaning
1

\<newline>

Backslash and newline ignored

2

\\

Backslash (\)

3

\'

Single quote (')

4

\"

Double quote (")

5

\a

ASCII Bell (BEL)

6

\b

ASCII Backspace (BS)

7

\f

ASCII Formfeed (FF)

8

\n

ASCII Linefeed (LF)

9

\r

ASCII Carriage Return (CR)

10

\t

ASCII Horizontal Tab (TAB)

11

\v

ASCII Vertical Tab (VT)

12

\ooo

Character with octal value ooo

13

\xhh

Character with hex value hh

Escape Characters Example

The following code shows the usage of escape sequences listed in the above table −

# ignore \
s = 'This string will not include \
backslashes or newline characters.'
print (s)

# escape backslash
s=s = 'The \\character is called backslash'
print (s)

# escape single quote
s='Hello \'Python\''
print (s)

# escape double quote
s="Hello \"Python\""
print (s)

# escape \b to generate ASCII backspace
s='Hel\blo'
print (s)

# ASCII Bell character
s='Hello\a'
print (s)

# newline
s='Hello\nPython'
print (s)

# Horizontal tab
s='Hello\tPython'
print (s)

# form feed
s= "hello\fworld"
print (s)

# Octal notation
s="\101"
print(s)

# Hexadecimal notation
s="\x41"
print (s)

It will produce the following output −

This string will not include backslashes or newline characters.
The \character is called backslash
Hello 'Python'
Hello "Python"
Helo
Hello
Hello
Python
Hello Python
hello
world
A
A
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