# Escape sequences

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Escape sequences are used to represent certain special characters within string literals and character constants.

The following escape sequences are available. ISO C requires a diagnostic if the backslash is followed by any character not listed here:

Escape sequence | Description | Representation
--- | --- | ---
Simple escape sequences
`\'` | single quote | byte `0x27` in ASCII encoding
`\"` | double quote | byte `0x22` in ASCII encoding
`\?` | question mark | byte `0x3f` in ASCII encoding
`\\` | backslash | byte `0x5c` in ASCII encoding
`\a` | audible bell | byte `0x07` in ASCII encoding
`\b` | backspace | byte `0x08` in ASCII encoding
`\f` | form feed - new page | byte `0x0c` in ASCII encoding
`\n` | line feed - new line | byte `0x0a` in ASCII encoding
`\r` | carriage return | byte `0x0d` in ASCII encoding
`\t` | horizontal tab | byte `0x09` in ASCII encoding
`\v` | vertical tab | byte `0x0b` in ASCII encoding
Numeric escape sequences
`\nnn` | arbitrary octal value | code unit `nnn`
`\xn...` | arbitrary hexadecimal value | code unit `n...` (arbitrary number of hexadecimal digits)
Universal character names
`\unnnn` (since C99) | Unicode value in allowed range; may result in several code units | code point `U+nnnn`
`\Unnnnnnnn` (since C99) | Unicode value in allowed range; may result in several code units | code point `U+nnnnnnnn`

### Range of universal character names If a universal character name corresponds to a code point that is not `0x24` ('$'), `0x40` ('@'), nor `0x60` ('`') and less than `0xA0`, or a surrogate code point (the range `0xD800-0xDFFF`, inclusive), or greater than `0x10FFFF`, i.e. not a Unicode code point (since C23), the program is ill-formed. In other words, members of basic source character set and control characters (in ranges `0x0-0x1F` and `0x7F-0x9F`) cannot be expressed in universal character names. | (since C99)

### Notes

\0 is the most commonly used octal escape sequence, because it represents the terminating null character in null-terminated strings.

The new-line character \n has special meaning when used in text mode I/O: it is converted to the OS-specific newline byte or byte sequence.

Octal escape sequences have a length limit of three octal digits but terminate at the first character that is not a valid octal digit if encountered sooner.

Hexadecimal escape sequences have no length limit and terminate at the first character that is not a valid hexadecimal digit. If the value represented by a single hexadecimal escape sequence does not fit the range of values represented by the character type used in this string literal or character constant (char, char8_t (since C23), char16_t, char32_t (since C11), or wchar_t), the result is unspecified.

A universal character name in a narrow string literal or a 16-bit string literal (since C11) may map to more than one code unit, e.g. \U0001f34c is 4 char code units in UTF-8 (\xF0\x9F\x8D\x8C) and 2 char16_t code units in UTF-16 (\xD83C\xDF4C) (since C11). | (since C99)

A universal character name corresponding to a code pointer greater than `0x10FFFF` (which is undefined in ISO/ISC 10646) can be used in character constants and string literals. Such usage is not allowed in C++20. | (since C99) (until C23)

The question mark escape sequence \? is used to prevent trigraphs from being interpreted inside string literals: a string such as "??/" is compiled as "\", but if the second question mark is escaped, as in "?\?/", it becomes "??/"

### Example

Run this code

    #include <stdio.h>

    int main(void)
    {
        printf("This\nis\na\ntest\n\nShe said, \"How are you?\"\n");
    }

Output:

    This
    is
    a
    test

    She said, "How are you?"

### References

- C17 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2018):

  - 5.2.2 Character display semantics (p: 18-19)

  - 6.4.3 Universal Character names (p: 44)

  - 6.4.4.4 Character constants (p: 48-50)

- C11 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2011):

  - 5.2.2 Character display semantics (p: 24-25)

  - 6.4.3 Universal Character names (p: 61)

  - 6.4.4.4 Character constants (p: 67-70)

- C99 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1999):

  - 5.2.2 Character display semantics (p: 19-20)

  - 6.4.3 Universal Character names (p: 53)

  - 6.4.4.4 Character constants (p: 59-61)

- C89/C90 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1990):

  - 2.2.2 Character display semantics

  - 3.1.3.4 Character constants

### See also

- ASCII chart

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