Many programming languages support a concept called Escape Sequence. When a character is preceded by a backslash (\), it is called an escape sequence and it has a special meaning to the compiler. For example, \n in the following statement is a valid character and it is called a new line character −
char ch = '\n';
Here, character n has been preceded by a backslash (\), it has special meaning which is a new line but keep in mind that backslash (\) has special meaning with a few characters only. The following statement will not convey any meaning in C programming and it will be assumed as an invalid statement −
char ch = '\1';
The following table lists the escape sequences available in C programming language −
| Sr.No | Escape Sequence & Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | \t Inserts a tab in the text at this point. |
| 2 | \b Inserts a backspace in the text at this point. |
| 3 | \n Inserts a newline in the text at this point. |
| 4 | \r Inserts a carriage return in the text at this point. |
| 5 | \f Inserts a form feed in the text at this point. |
| 6 | \’ Inserts a single quote character in the text at this point. |
| 7 | \” Inserts a double quote character in the text at this point. |
| 8 | \\ Inserts a backslash character in the text at this point. |
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
char ch1;
char ch2;
char ch3;
char ch4;
ch1 = '\t';
ch2 = '\n';
printf( "Test for tabspace %c and a newline %c will start here", ch1, ch2);
}Test for tabspace and a newline will start here
