Special Characters

Because strings must be written within quotes, Java will misunderstand this string, and generate an error:

String 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:

The sequence \"  inserts a double quote in a string:

Example

String txt = "We are the so-called \"Vikings\" from the north.";

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

Example

String txt = "It\'s alright.";

The sequence \\  inserts a single backslash in a string:
 

Example

String txt = "The character \\ is called backslash.";

Six other escape sequences are valid in Java:

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