Python treats \ in literal string in a special way. This is so you can type '\n' to mean newline or '\t' to mean tab Since '\&' doesn't mean anything special to Python, instead of causing an error, the Python lexical analyser implicitly adds the extra \ for you.
Really it is better to use \\& or r'\&' instead of '\&'
The r here means raw string and means that \ isn't treated
specially unless it is right before the quote character at the start of the string.
In the interactive console, Python uses repr to display the result, so that is why you see the double '\'. If you print your string or use len(string) you will see that it is really only the 2 characters
Some examples
>>> 'Here\'s a backslash: \\'
"Here's a backslash: \\"
>>> print 'Here\'s a backslash: \\'
Here's a backslash: \
>>> 'Here\'s a backslash: \\. Here\'s a double quote: ".'
'Here\'s a backslash: \\. Here\'s a double quote: ".'
>>> print 'Here\'s a backslash: \\. Here\'s a double quote: ".'
Here's a backslash: \. Here's a double quote ".
To Clarify the point Peter makes in his comment see this link
Unlike Standard C, all unrecognized escape sequences are left in the string unchanged, i.e., the backslash is left in the string. (This behavior is useful when debugging: if an escape sequence is mistyped, the resulting output is more easily recognized as broken.) It is also important to note that the escape sequences marked as “(Unicode only)” in the table above fall into the category of unrecognized escapes for non-Unicode string literals.
On this page: commenting with #, multi-line strings with """ """, printing multiple objects, the backslash "\" as the escape character, '\t', '\n', '\r', and '\\'.
Video Tutorial
Python 3 Changesprint(x,y) instead of print x, y
Video Summary
As stated in earlier tutorials, the print() function tells Python to immediately display a given string once the command is executed. To designate a string for the print function to display, surround it in either single-quotes (' ') or double-quotes (" "). Both options are available so you can still use quotes within your string if need be. Ex: print("how are you doin' today?")
If the pound symbol
(#) is placed before a command or any sort of string of characters, the command will appear in red and Python will ignore it during code execution. This can be used within Python to provide helpful comments to those looking at your code, or to "turn off" certain lines of code in order to test for bugs.
Surrounding a string with triple double-quotes (""" """) allows you to have any combination of quotes and line breaks within a string and Python will still
interpret it as a single entity.
Learn More
You can specify multiple strings with the print() function. Just separate them out with a comma ',', and they will be printed with a space in between:
>>> print('apple', 'orange', 'pear')
apple orange pear
In Python strings, the backslash "\" is a special character, also called the "escape" character. It is used in representing certain whitespace characters: "\t" is a tab, "\n" is a newline, and "\r" is a carriage return.
>>> print('apple\torange')
apple orange>>> print('apple\norange')
apple
orange
Conversely, prefixing a special character with "\" turns it into an ordinary character. This is called "escaping". For example, "\'" is the single quote character. 'It\'s raining' therefore is a valid string and equivalent to "It's raining". Likewise, '"' can be escaped: "\"hello\"" is a string begins and ends with the literal double quote character. Finally, "\" can be used to escape itself: "\\" is the literal backslash character.
>>> print('It\'s raining')
It's raining>>> 'It\'s raining'# Same string specified differently"It's raining">>> print("\"hello\"")
"hello">>> print('"\\" is the backslash') # Try with "\" instead of "\\""\" is the backslash
There are tons of handy functions that are defined on strings, called string methods. Learn about the ones on substringhood and also on case manipulation in this tutorial. This part 2 tutorial covers string methods for finding where a particular substring is located, and also
for testing whether or not certain condition holds for every character.
Once you get comfortable with lists (upcoming), you should also check out Splitting and Joining Strings.
Practice
There are at least three ways to print I'm hugry. What are they? Try in IDLE shell.
There are at least three ways to print Fleas, Adam, Had'em (the shortest
English poem ever written apparently) in three separate lines, using one print() function. What are they? Try in IDLE shell.
Explore
Think Python has an excellent chapter (Ch.8 Strings) devoted to strings. It gives a comprehensive overview on what one can do with this data type.
How do you add a forward slash to a string in Python?
Programming languages, such as Python, treat a backslash (\) as an escape character. For instance, \n represents a line feed, and \t represents a tab. When specifying a path, a forward slash (/) can be used in place of a backslash.
How do you print a forward slash in Python?
Print Backslash or escape from backslash in Python
In python \n, \t, \v and many more have special meanings. \n is used to print a new line, \t is used to print a tab space and \v is used as vertical space.
What is forward slash in Python?
Use Forward slash / to break code into multiline code. Line break means code line change in Python, but you can use forward slash / to bluff python. You can easily break your code into multiple lines using forward slash in between.
How do you use slash in Python?
To insert characters that are illegal in a string, use an escape character. An escape character is a backslash \ followed by the character you want to insert.
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