String Concatenation '\ ' python

Question

I am trying to concatenate '\' with the path and the filename in the folder but when I try to concatenate, I'm getting EOL while scanning string literal:

path = r"C:\Users\karth\Desktop\udacity\2000"
add = '\'
file = os.listdir(path)
['2000Q1.zip',
 '2000Q2.zip',
 '2000Q3.zip',
 '2000Q4.zip',
 'Acquisition',
 'Performance']

print (path+ add + file[0])

Just look at the highlighting - You are escaping the quote with `\'`. — Andrew Li, Oct 22 '16 at 20:34
Why are you using raw notation for `path` but not for `add`? — Stop harming Monica, Oct 22 '16 at 20:35
And why not use `os.path.join()`, or at the very least `os.sep`? — Martijn Pieters, Oct 22 '16 at 20:36

Daniel · Answer 1 · 2016-10-22T20:40:50.517

2

Use os.path.join:

path = r"C:\Users\karth\Desktop\udacity\2000"
file = os.listdir(path)

print(os.path.join(path, file[0]))

or glob.glob to list directories with the whole path:

import glob
pattern = r"C:\Users\karth\Desktop\udacity\2000\*"
filenames = glob.glob(pattern)
print(filenames[0])

edited Oct 22 '16 at 20:40

answered Oct 22 '16 at 20:38

Daniel

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To make this even better, explain why the OPs code didn't work first, then offer a solution :) – Andrew Li Oct 22 '16 at 20:39

Moinuddin Quadri · Answer 2 · 2016-10-22T20:51:27.980

When you use \' within the string, it takes ' as the part of string (and not the closing string quote). \ is know as escape character. You need to write it as:

 add = '\\'

As per String Literals: Escape Characters document, below is the list of all the Escape Sequences with their meanings:

Escape Sequence     Meaning 
\newline            Ignored
\\                  Backslash (\) 
\'                  Single quote (')  # <---- Cause of error in your code
\"                  Double quote (")
\a                  ASCII Bell (BEL)
\b                  ASCII Backspace (BS)
\f                  ASCII Formfeed (FF)
\n                  ASCII Linefeed (LF)
\r                  ASCII Carriage Return (CR)
\t                  ASCII Horizontal Tab (TAB)
\v                  ASCII Vertical Tab (VT)
\uxxxx              Character with 16-bit hex value XXXX (Unicode only (1)
\Uxxxxxxxx          Character with 32-bit hex value XXXXXXXX (Unicode only) (2)
\v                  ASCII Vertical Tab (VT)
\ooo                Character with octal value OOO (3,5)
\xhh                Character with hex value HH (4,5)

String Concatenation '\ ' python

2 Answers2