How to print a backslash (\) at the beginning of a string (c#)

Question

I have got the string:

string test = "\test.xml";

how can I print it out as: \test.xml

Just a quick remark: the only reason you were able to compile this code at all is that "\t" is escape sequence for a tab. — Dirk, Feb 25 '14 at 12:05
Who downvoted this? You don't have to google everything you know! What's wrong with asking simple questions on SO? — Alex, Feb 25 '14 at 12:06
@Alex Asking requires another one to spend time to answer, searching for it first only requires yours. I would call it a common courtesy to search first. If you hover over the downvote button you see when you should downvote a question: "This question doesn't show any research effort; ...". Asking simple questions is fine, asking them without thinking first isn't in my opinion. — Dirk, Feb 25 '14 at 12:36
@Dirk I guess. At least OP accepted an answer :) That's a good thing. — Alex, Feb 25 '14 at 12:56
when I typed "How to print a backslash (\) at the beginning of a string (c#)" I did not find an answer under: "Questions that may already have your answer" so I asked it. — kimliv, Feb 25 '14 at 13:48

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 25 '14 at 12:03

12

Escape Sequence -- Represents

             \\ -- Backslash

If you want to use it in your string, you should escape it with another \ character.

string test = "\\test.xml";

or your can use verbatim string literal with @ character like;

string test = @"\test.xml";

answered Feb 25 '14 at 12:03

Soner Gönül

1

+1 I prefer the @"..." personally because it makes the text a lot more readable and gets rid of all the ugly escapes. – Alex Feb 25 '14 at 12:05
@Alex: it also allows to leave a multi-line string as it is which is handy especially for sql queries. – Tim Schmelter Feb 25 '14 at 12:07
Yes, actually `'\t'` is _one_ character, a [TAB](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_key#Tab_characters). Each of `'e'`, `'s'`, `'t'`, `'.'`, `'x'`, `'m'`, `'l'` is also one character, so the string from the question had length `8`, not `9`. – Jeppe Stig Nielsen Feb 25 '14 at 12:07

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 25 '14 at 12:03

4

Just add escape sequence as:

string test = "\\test.xml";

Better option is to prepend '@' to avoid all escape sequences from string as:

string test = @"\test.xml";

answered Feb 25 '14 at 12:03

M.S.

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 25 '14 at 12:14

1

string test = @"\test.xml";

or

string test = "\\test.xml";

edited Feb 25 '14 at 12:14

Tim Schmelter

answered Feb 25 '14 at 12:09

ali asadi

The ``\\`` in your answer was escaped as well, by the Stack Overflow software ... (I need to edit this comment as well.) – Jeppe Stig Nielsen Feb 25 '14 at 12:12
2

Somehow late, isn't it? – Tim Schmelter Feb 25 '14 at 12:12

3 Answers3