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 avoid 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.";

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

Example

char txt[] = "It\'s alright.";

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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 »

Multi-line Strings

If you have a long string, you might want to split it across multiple lines in your code to make it easier to read.

1. Using a backslash (\) - You can place a backslash at the end of a line to continue the string on the next line:

2. Putting string literals side by side (recommended) - A clearer way is to simply write two strings next to each other inside quotes. The C compiler will automatically join them into one string:

This method is more common and safer to use, since you don't have to worry about backslashes or trailing spaces.

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Strings - Special Characters

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