Strings with Escape Sequences in Python

Today we’ll be talking about escape sequences.

Escape characters / sequences are characters used to escape the special meaning of another character.

We use the backslash (\) character to escape characters.

Escape sequences:

This sequence is used for a new line:

>>> a = "Let's break the line \nright here"
>>> print(a)
Let's break the line 
right here

Escape characters don’t work if we echo strings:

>>> a
"Let's break the line \nright here"

This sequence adds tabs:

>>> a = "We need more \t\t\t\t\t\t\t tabs!"
>>> print(a)
We need more 							 tabs!

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This sequence should be used if you need a single backslash.

>>> a = "I need a single \\ here."
>>> print(a)
I need a single \ here.

If you need a double one, just add one more:

>>> a = "I need a double \\\ here."
>>> print(a)
I need a double \\ here.

This sequence is used for a single quote:

>>> a = '"How about a single \'?", he asked.'
>>> print(a)
"How about a single '?", he asked.

And this sequence is used for a double quote:

>>> a = "Double \" seems right."
>>> print(a)
Double " seems right.

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This sequence can be used for Unicode characters.

>>> a = "The first letter is \u0041."
>>> print(a)
The first letter is A.

This is particularly useful for characters from other alphabets. You can find the Unicode code points online. For example let’s take this code point: U+19EC:

>>> a = "What does \u19ec mean?"
>>> print(a)
What does ᧬ mean?

or this one: U+231A for the symbol of a watch:

>>> a = "Watch your \u231a!"
>>> print(a)
Watch your ⌚!

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