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C Special Characters


Strings — Special Characters

Because strings must be written within quotes, C will misunderstand this string, and generate an error:

char txt[] = "We are the so-called "Vikings" from the north.";

The solution to avoiding this problem is to use the backslash escape character.

The backslash (\) escape character turns special characters into string characters:

Escape character Result Description
\' ' Single quote
\" " Double quote
\\ \ Backslash

The sequence \" inserts a double quote in a string:

Example

char txt[] = "We are the so-called \"Vikings\" from the north.";
Try it Yourself »

The sequence \' inserts a single quote in a string:

Example

char txt[] = "It\'s alright.";
Try it Yourself »

The sequence \\ inserts a single backslash in a string:

Example

char txt[] = "The character \\ is called backslash.";
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Other popular escape characters in C are:

Escape Character Result Try it
\n New Line Try it »
\t Tab Try it »
\0 Null Try it »