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[3.9] gh-80143: Add clarification for escape characters (GH-92292) #92630

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May 16, 2022
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[3.9] gh-80143: Add clarification for escape characters (GH-92292) #92630

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10 changes: 7 additions & 3 deletions Doc/reference/lexical_analysis.rst
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Expand Up @@ -447,9 +447,11 @@ see section :ref:`encodings`.
In plain English: Both types of literals can be enclosed in matching single quotes
(``'``) or double quotes (``"``). They can also be enclosed in matching groups
of three single or double quotes (these are generally referred to as
*triple-quoted strings*). The backslash (``\``) character is used to escape
characters that otherwise have a special meaning, such as newline, backslash
itself, or the quote character.
*triple-quoted strings*). The backslash (``\``) character is used to give special
meaning to otherwise ordinary characters like ``n``, which means 'newline' when
escaped (``\n``). It can also be used to escape characters that otherwise have a
special meaning, such as newline, backslash itself, or the quote character.
See :ref:`escape sequences <escape-sequences>` below for examples.

.. index::
single: b'; bytes literal
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -508,6 +510,8 @@ retained), except that three unescaped quotes in a row terminate the literal. (
single: \u; escape sequence
single: \U; escape sequence

.. _escape-sequences:

Unless an ``'r'`` or ``'R'`` prefix is present, escape sequences in string and
bytes literals are interpreted according to rules similar to those used by
Standard C. The recognized escape sequences are:
Expand Down