# String escape mystery **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [November 17, 2007, 9:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-escape-mystery/120517 "2007-11-17T21:10:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rykkers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rykkers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rykkers)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 9:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-escape-mystery/120517/1 "2007-11-17T21:10:12Z")
I can’t figure out what’s happening here: shadowfax:~ rick$ ruby -ve’p “a\b\c”’ ruby 1.8.6 (2007-03-13 patchlevel 0) [i686-darwin8.10.2] -e:1: unterminated string meets end of file shadowfax:~ rick$ ruby -e’p “a\b\c”’ “a\b\c” shadowfax:~ rick$ ruby -e’puts “a\b\c”’ \c shadowfax:~ rick$ What’s up with \c in a string literal? – Rick DeNatale My blog on Ruby [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/) ---
**Author:** ![rykkers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rykkers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rykkers)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-escape-mystery/120517/2 "2007-11-17T21:22:13Z")
Rick Denatale wrote: > What’s up with \c in a string literal? “\cx” and “\C-c” mean both “Control-c”. Wolfgang Nádasi-Donner ---
**Author:** ![rykkers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rykkers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rykkers)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-escape-mystery/120517/3 "2007-11-17T21:22:54Z")
Wolfgang Nádasi-Donner wrote: > Rick Denatale wrote: > > > What’s up with \c in a string literal? > > “\cx” and “\C-c” mean both “Control-c”. > > Wolfgang Nádasi-Donner Sorry, typo -\> “\cc” and “\C-c” mean both “Control-c”. ---
**Author:** ![rykkers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rykkers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rykkers)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-escape-mystery/120517/4 "2007-11-17T23:52:05Z")
Rick Denatale wrote: > I can’t figure out what’s happening here: > > shadowfax:~ rick$ ruby -ve’p “a\b\c”’ > ruby 1.8.6 (2007-03-13 patchlevel 0) [i686-darwin8.10.2] > -e:1: unterminated string meets end of file > > shadowfax:~ rick$ ruby -e’p “a\b\c”’ > “a\b\c” > > shadowfax:~ rick$ ruby -e’puts “a\b\c”’ > \c > shadowfax:~ rick$ > > What’s up with \c in a string literal? > > – > Rick DeNatale > > My blog on Ruby > [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/) Hu? I fail to see what exactly is your problem. \b is backspace, so the a becomes deleted in the output. In the inspect of course it still shows up. \ is a literal \ and that is followed by a c, so “\c” naturally prints as \c Did I miss your point or so? Regards Stefan ---
**Author:** ![rykkers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rykkers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rykkers)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-escape-mystery/120517/5 "2007-11-18T00:14:31Z")
Rick Denatale wrote: > On Nov 17, 2007 5:52 PM, Stefan R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/) > > > > Hu? > > I fail to see what exactly is your problem. \b is backspace, so the a > > becomes deleted in the output. In the inspect of course it still shows > > up. \ is a literal \ and that is followed by a c, so “\c” naturally > > prints as \c > > Did I miss your point or so? > > No it was just a brain fart on my part. > > – > Rick DeNatale > > My blog on Ruby > [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/) Please take a look at… irb(main):001:0\> “a\b\c”" =\> “a\b\002” …and the documentation in [Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide](http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/html/language.html) in “Basic Types”, subchapter “Strings” is a table… Substitutions in double-quoted strings \a Bell/alert (0x07) \nnn Octal nnn \b Backspace (0x08) \xnn Hex nn \e Escape (0x1b) \cx Control-x \f Formfeed (0x0c) \C-x Control-x \n Newline (0x0a) \M-x Meta-x \r Return (0x0d) \M-\C-x Meta-control-x \s Space (0x20) \x x \t Tab (0x09) #{expr} Value of expr \v Vertical tab (0x0b) …which explains everything in detail. Wolfgang Nádasi-Donner ---
**Author:** ![rykkers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rykkers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rykkers)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/string-escape-mystery/120517/6 "2007-11-17T23:59:18Z")
On Nov 17, 2007 5:52 PM, Stefan R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/) > > Hu? > I fail to see what exactly is your problem. \b is backspace, so the a > becomes deleted in the output. In the inspect of course it still shows > up. \ is a literal \ and that is followed by a c, so “\c” naturally > prints as \c > Did I miss your point or so? No it was just a brain fart on my part. – Rick DeNatale My blog on Ruby [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/)