how to use the string '\\.\'

[Guest]

print r'\\.\'

This line will cause error. I just want to print the
\\.\
why the prefix character "r" isn't effective. Thanks!

 

[Duncan Booth]

print r'\\.\'

This line will cause error. I just want to print the
\\.\
why the prefix character "r" isn't effective. Thanks!

See the FAQ:
http://www.python.org/doc/faq/general/#why-can-t-raw-strings-r-strings-end-with-a-backslash

 

[Tim Golden]

print r'\\.\'

This line will cause error. I just want to print the
\\.\
why the prefix character "r" isn't effective. Thanks!

Because of the way in which Python parses strings,
you can't end a string -- even a raw one -- with
an odd (1, 3, 5 etc) number of backslashes. In
you example, you'd have to do this:

print "\\\\.\\"

although, depending on what the code was doing,
you might be able to use forward slashes instead;
a surprising number of Microsoft's APIs allow
forward slashes as well as backslashes. Not, however,
anything which is interpreted by the command shell
(which sees a forward slash as a flag indicator) nor
typically anything handled by the Shell subsystem.

TJG

 

[Gabriel Genellina]

En Mon, 09 Apr 2007 08:21:44 -0300, Duncan Booth

See the FAQ:
http://www.python.org/doc/faq/general/#why-can-t-raw-strings-r-strings-end-with-a-backslash

This form is not included in the FAQ alternatives (should it?):

print r'\\.' '\\'

 

[Duncan Booth]

En Mon, 09 Apr 2007 08:21:44 -0300, Duncan Booth


This form is not included in the FAQ alternatives (should it?):

print r'\\.' '\\'

Yes it is. It is just the first of the FAQ suggestions using single quotes
instead of double quotes. If you wanted to add another one then I would go
for:

os.path.normpath("/this/is/my/dos/dir")

although it doesn't work with the particular example in question here.