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:
The sequence \'
inserts a single quote in a string:
The sequence \\
inserts a single backslash in a string:
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 » |