Quoting backslashes in Python string literals

Question

I have a string that contains both double-quotes and backslashes that I want to set to a variable in Python  However  whenever I try to set it  the quotes or slashes are either removed or escaped  Here s an example    gt  gt  gt  foo    baz       gt  gt  gt  foo  baz       So instead of baz     like I want I m getting baz     If I then try to escape the backslash  it doesn t help either    gt  gt  gt  foo    baz        gt  gt  gt  foo  baz         Which now matches what I put in but wasn t what I originally wanted  How do you get around this problem

User · Answer

If you are here for a filepath just use  quot    quot  import os path   r quot c  file quot   quot    quot   quot path quot  os path normpath path   which will outputc  file path

User · Answer

Use a raw string   gt  gt  gt  foo   r baz  quot   quot    gt  gt  gt  foo  baz  quot    quot    Note that although it looks wrong  it s actually right   There is only one backslash in the string foo  This happens because when you just type foo at the prompt  python displays the result of   repr     on the string   This leads to the following  notice only one backslash and no quotes around the printed string    gt  gt  gt  foo   r baz  quot   quot    gt  gt  gt  foo  baz  quot    quot    gt  gt  gt  print foo  baz  quot   quot   And let s keep going because there s more backslash tricks   If you want to have a backslash at the end of the string and use the method above you ll come across a problem   gt  gt  gt  foo   r baz      File  quot  lt stdin gt  quot   line 1     foo   r baz                         SyntaxError  EOL while scanning single-quoted string  Raw strings don t work properly when you do that   You have to use a regular string and escape your backslashes   gt  gt  gt  foo    baz      gt  gt  gt  print foo  baz    However  if you re working with Windows file names  you re in for some pain   What you want to do is use forward slashes and the os path normpath   function  myfile   os path normpath  c  folder subfolder file txt   open myfile   This will save a lot of escaping and hair-tearing   This page was handy when going through this a while ago

User · Answer

If you are here for a filepath just use  quot    quot  import os path   r quot c  file quot   quot    quot   quot path quot  os path normpath path   which will outputc  file path

User · Answer

What Harley said  except the last point - it s not actually necessary to change the    s into    s before calling open  Windows is quite happy to accept paths with forward slashes   infile   open  c  folder subfolder file txt     The only time you re likely to need the string normpathed is if you re passing to to another program via the shell  using os system or the subprocess module

User · Answer

Use a raw string   gt  gt  gt  foo   r baz  quot   quot    gt  gt  gt  foo  baz  quot    quot    Note that although it looks wrong  it s actually right   There is only one backslash in the string foo  This happens because when you just type foo at the prompt  python displays the result of   repr     on the string   This leads to the following  notice only one backslash and no quotes around the printed string    gt  gt  gt  foo   r baz  quot   quot    gt  gt  gt  foo  baz  quot    quot    gt  gt  gt  print foo  baz  quot   quot   And let s keep going because there s more backslash tricks   If you want to have a backslash at the end of the string and use the method above you ll come across a problem   gt  gt  gt  foo   r baz      File  quot  lt stdin gt  quot   line 1     foo   r baz                         SyntaxError  EOL while scanning single-quoted string  Raw strings don t work properly when you do that   You have to use a regular string and escape your backslashes   gt  gt  gt  foo    baz      gt  gt  gt  print foo  baz    However  if you re working with Windows file names  you re in for some pain   What you want to do is use forward slashes and the os path normpath   function  myfile   os path normpath  c  folder subfolder file txt   open myfile   This will save a lot of escaping and hair-tearing   This page was handy when going through this a while ago

User · Answer

Use a raw string   gt  gt  gt  foo   r baz  quot   quot    gt  gt  gt  foo  baz  quot    quot    Note that although it looks wrong  it s actually right   There is only one backslash in the string foo  This happens because when you just type foo at the prompt  python displays the result of   repr     on the string   This leads to the following  notice only one backslash and no quotes around the printed string    gt  gt  gt  foo   r baz  quot   quot    gt  gt  gt  foo  baz  quot    quot    gt  gt  gt  print foo  baz  quot   quot   And let s keep going because there s more backslash tricks   If you want to have a backslash at the end of the string and use the method above you ll come across a problem   gt  gt  gt  foo   r baz      File  quot  lt stdin gt  quot   line 1     foo   r baz                         SyntaxError  EOL while scanning single-quoted string  Raw strings don t work properly when you do that   You have to use a regular string and escape your backslashes   gt  gt  gt  foo    baz      gt  gt  gt  print foo  baz    However  if you re working with Windows file names  you re in for some pain   What you want to do is use forward slashes and the os path normpath   function  myfile   os path normpath  c  folder subfolder file txt   open myfile   This will save a lot of escaping and hair-tearing   This page was handy when going through this a while ago

User · Answer

Another way to end a string with a backslash is to end the string with a backslash followed by a space  and then call the  strip   function on the string     I was trying to concatenate two string variables and have them separated by a backslash  so i used the following   newString   string1        strip     string2

User · Answer

You re being mislead by output -- the second approach you re taking actually does what you want  you just aren t believing it      gt  gt  gt  foo    baz  quot    quot    gt  gt  gt  foo  baz  quot    quot    gt  gt  gt  print foo  baz  quot   quot   Incidentally  there s another string form which might be a bit clearer   gt  gt  gt  print r baz  quot   quot    baz  quot   quot

User · Answer

What Harley said  except the last point - it s not actually necessary to change the    s into    s before calling open  Windows is quite happy to accept paths with forward slashes   infile   open  c  folder subfolder file txt     The only time you re likely to need the string normpathed is if you re passing to to another program via the shell  using os system or the subprocess module

User · Answer

Use a raw string   gt  gt  gt  foo   r baz  quot   quot    gt  gt  gt  foo  baz  quot    quot    Note that although it looks wrong  it s actually right   There is only one backslash in the string foo  This happens because when you just type foo at the prompt  python displays the result of   repr     on the string   This leads to the following  notice only one backslash and no quotes around the printed string    gt  gt  gt  foo   r baz  quot   quot    gt  gt  gt  foo  baz  quot    quot    gt  gt  gt  print foo  baz  quot   quot   And let s keep going because there s more backslash tricks   If you want to have a backslash at the end of the string and use the method above you ll come across a problem   gt  gt  gt  foo   r baz      File  quot  lt stdin gt  quot   line 1     foo   r baz                         SyntaxError  EOL while scanning single-quoted string  Raw strings don t work properly when you do that   You have to use a regular string and escape your backslashes   gt  gt  gt  foo    baz      gt  gt  gt  print foo  baz    However  if you re working with Windows file names  you re in for some pain   What you want to do is use forward slashes and the os path normpath   function  myfile   os path normpath  c  folder subfolder file txt   open myfile   This will save a lot of escaping and hair-tearing   This page was handy when going through this a while ago

User · Answer

Another way to end a string with a backslash is to end the string with a backslash followed by a space  and then call the  strip   function on the string     I was trying to concatenate two string variables and have them separated by a backslash  so i used the following   newString   string1        strip     string2

User · Answer

You re being mislead by output -- the second approach you re taking actually does what you want  you just aren t believing it      gt  gt  gt  foo    baz  quot    quot    gt  gt  gt  foo  baz  quot    quot    gt  gt  gt  print foo  baz  quot   quot   Incidentally  there s another string form which might be a bit clearer   gt  gt  gt  print r baz  quot   quot    baz  quot   quot

User · Answer

You re being mislead by output -- the second approach you re taking actually does what you want  you just aren t believing it      gt  gt  gt  foo    baz  quot    quot    gt  gt  gt  foo  baz  quot    quot    gt  gt  gt  print foo  baz  quot   quot   Incidentally  there s another string form which might be a bit clearer   gt  gt  gt  print r baz  quot   quot    baz  quot   quot

User · Answer

What Harley said  except the last point - it s not actually necessary to change the    s into    s before calling open  Windows is quite happy to accept paths with forward slashes   infile   open  c  folder subfolder file txt     The only time you re likely to need the string normpathed is if you re passing to to another program via the shell  using os system or the subprocess module

User · Answer

You re being mislead by output -- the second approach you re taking actually does what you want  you just aren t believing it      gt  gt  gt  foo    baz  quot    quot    gt  gt  gt  foo  baz  quot    quot    gt  gt  gt  print foo  baz  quot   quot   Incidentally  there s another string form which might be a bit clearer   gt  gt  gt  print r baz  quot   quot    baz  quot   quot

User · Answer

What Harley said  except the last point - it s not actually necessary to change the    s into    s before calling open  Windows is quite happy to accept paths with forward slashes   infile   open  c  folder subfolder file txt     The only time you re likely to need the string normpathed is if you re passing to to another program via the shell  using os system or the subprocess module

[python] Quoting backslashes in Python string literals

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