Understanding Escape Sequences in C: Special Character Representations

Learn about escape sequences in C, which provide special meanings to characters following a backslash (\). Discover how they allow the representation of characters that are difficult to type directly, enhancing your programming capabilities.

Escape Sequences in C

Escape sequences in C give special meaning to characters following a backslash (\). They are used to represent characters that are difficult to type directly.

Common Escape Sequences

• \\ - Backslash
• \' - Single Quote
• \" - Double Quote
• \? - Question Mark
• \a - Alert/Bell
• \b - Backspace
• \f - Form Feed
• \n - New Line
• \r - Carriage Return
• \t - Horizontal Tab
• \v - Vertical Tab
• \ooo - Octal Number
• \xhh - Hexadecimal Number

Examples

New Line Escape Sequence (\n)

Inserts a new line in the output.

#include 

int main() {
  printf("Hello\nWorld");
  return 0;
}

Hello
World

Tab Escape Sequence (\t)

Inserts a horizontal tab in the output.

#include 

int main() {
  printf("Name:\tJohn\tMarks:\t90");
  return 0;
}

Name:   John    Marks:  90

Backslash Escape Sequence (\\)

Inserts a backslash in the output.

#include 

int main() {
  printf("C:\\Windows\\System32");
  return 0;
}

C:\Windows\System32

Double and Single Quotes Escape Sequences (\" and \')

Inserts double or single quotes in the output.

#include 

int main() {
  printf("He said, \"Hello!\"\n");
  printf("It's a beautiful day.");
  return 0;
}

He said, "Hello!"
It's a beautiful day.

Backspace Escape Sequence (\b)

Deletes the previous character in the output.

#include 

int main() {
  printf("Hello\b World");
  return 0;
}

Hell World

Octal Number Escape Sequence (\ooo)

Inserts a character based on its octal value.

#include 

int main() {
  printf("%c", '\101');
  return 0;
}

A

Hexadecimal Number Escape Sequence (\xhh)

Inserts a character based on its hexadecimal value.

#include 

int main() {
  printf("%c", '\x42');
  return 0;
}

B

Alert or Bell Escape Sequence (\a)

Produces a sound or visual alert.

#include 

int main() {
  printf("Hello\a world\n");
  return 0;
}

Hello world