(Swift) how to print "\" character in a string?

Question

I have tried to print it but it just by passes because it's an escaped character. e.g output should be as follows.

\correct

Escape it again with another backslash: `"ab\\cd"` will give `"ab\cd"` — Eric Aya, May 11 '15 at 14:53
It *is documented* in the Swift Book, and a link to the relevant chapter was provided in a comment to your previous question. — Martin R, May 11 '15 at 15:13
Don't know why this question got those negative feedback, because it definitely helped me. The problem is, double backslash doesn't get shown in right panel when in playground — ramazan polat, Feb 20 '16 at 16:03

score 63 · Accepted Answer · answered May 11 '15 at 14:54

63

For that and also future reference:

\0 – Null character (that is a zero after the slash)
\\ – Backslash itself.  Since the backslash is used to escape other characters, it needs a special escape to actually print itself.
\t  – Horizontal tab
\n – Line Feed
\r  – Carriage Return
\”  – Double quote.  Since the quotes denote a String literal, this is necessary if you actually want to print one.
\’  – Single Quote.  Similar reason to above.

answered May 11 '15 at 14:54

C-JARP

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Why does a single-quote need to be escaped, anyway? – Duncan C May 11 '15 at 17:46
@DuncanC because compiler can't decide whether it is end of the string or a double slash IN the string – ramazan polat Feb 20 '16 at 15:59
7

in swift 4 "\\" gives you "\\" – Aviram Netanel Dec 12 '18 at 16:10
how to print apostrophe in swift ? – Mayur Shinde Aug 28 '19 at 11:51

score 19 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 02 '19 at 05:28

19

Use the following code for Swift 5, Xcode 10.2

let myText = #"This is a Backslash: \"#
print(myText)

Output:

This is a Backslash: \

Now not required to add a double slash to use a single slash in swift 5, even now required slash before some character, for example, single quote, double quote etc.

See this post for latest update about swift 5

https://www.hackingwithswift.com/articles/126/whats-new-in-swift-5-0

answered Apr 02 '19 at 05:28

AtulParmar

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Trying this on Swift 5, Xcode 11.1 is printing out: " This is a Backslash: \\ " – Alan S Nov 06 '19 at 14:28
I'm using Swift 5.1 and it's working perfectly for me. Idk for sure about Swift 5, but I'm sure it works for Swift 5.1. – Mikael Weiss Aug 21 '20 at 22:09

score 6 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 21 '22 at 05:42

6

var s1: String = "I love my "
let s2: String = "country"
s1 += "\"\(s2)\""
print(s1)

It will print I love my "country"

edited Dec 21 '22 at 05:42

aturan23

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answered Nov 11 '17 at 07:01

tania_S

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score 5 · Answer 4 · answered May 11 '15 at 14:53

5

The backslash character \ acts as an escape character when used in a string. This means you can use, for example, double quotes, in a string by pre-pending them with \. The same also applies for the backslash character itself, which is to say that println("\\") will result in just \ being printed.

answered May 11 '15 at 14:53

matthew.healy

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Thanks for the education, Eric, and sorry for such a noob mistake. I had been relying on Playground's output on the right, and never once have used that bottom panel. The lightbulb has now been lit. You must be a mod? I started another thread on this topic and it should probably die also. – Wayne Henderson Feb 05 '16 at 14:59

(Swift) how to print "\" character in a string?

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