Python – Escape Characters
Escape characters in Python let you include special characters in strings that would otherwise be hard to type directly — like quotes, new lines, tabs, or backslashes.
In this tutorial, you'll learn:
- What escape characters are
- Commonly used escape sequences
- How to use them in real Python programs
What Are Escape Characters?
An escape character is a backslash (\) followed by a character. It tells Python to interpret the character differently.
Example:
txt = "He said, \"Python is awesome!\""
print(txt)
# Output: He said, "Python is awesome!"
The
\"allows us to include quotes inside a string without causing a syntax error.
Common Python Escape Characters
| Escape Code | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
\' | Single quote | 'It\'s awesome' |
\" | Double quote | "He said, \"Hi!\"" |
\\ | Backslash | "This is a backslash: \\" |
\n | New line | "Hello\nWorld" |
\t | Tab (horizontal) | "Name:\tJohn" |
\r | Carriage return | "Hello\rWorld" |
\b | Backspace | "ABC\bD" → "ABD" |
\f | Form feed | "Line1\fLine2" |
\ooo | Octal value | "\110\145\154\154\157" |
\xhh | Hex value | "\x48\x65\x6c\x6c\x6f" |
Examples of Escape Characters in Action
1. Including Quotes Inside a String
text = "She said, \"Learn Python now!\""
print(text)
2. New Lines and Tabs
print("First Line\nSecond Line") # Adds a newline
print("Name:\tJohn") # Adds a tab
3. Backslash
print("C:\\Users\\John") # Output: C:\Users\John
What if I Don’t Want Escaping?
Use a raw string by prefixing it with r — Python will ignore escape characters.
print(r"C:\Users\John") # Output: C:\Users\John
This is especially useful in file paths, regular expressions, etc.
Summary
- Escape characters help insert special characters into strings.
- Prefix a string with
rto make it "raw" (disable escaping). - Common sequences:
\n(newline),\t(tab),\\(backslash),\"(quote).