"Escape sequence is a character which escapes normal sequence of output (evaluation)". Escape sequences are very common in a language. Escape sequence precedes with a \ (backslash). For example, \n stands for new line; even though it looks two characters, Java treats them as one character with ASCII code of 10. Escape sequence, being a single character, should be put within single quotes.
Observe the following simple code on Escape Sequences
.
public class Demo
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
int x = '\t'; // enclosed within single quotes
System.out.println(x); // prints 9
int y = '\n';
System.out.println(y); // prints 10
}
}
You can try for other escape characters also what their ASCII codes.
Java also comes Escape Sequences and the list if given here under.
Escape Sequence | Meaning |
---|---|
\n | Gives a new line |
\t | Gives one tab space (Java gives 6 spaces) |
\" | Prints just double quotes, " |
\' | Prints just single qutotes, ' |
\r | Carriage return; The second line comes to the beginning of the line; that is, comes to extreme left where a new line begins. |
\b | Moves one space backwards. The character preceded to \b is deleted |
\\ | prints one slash (instead of two) |
\f | Form feed |
Following code gives some Escape Sequences usage.
public class Demo
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
System.out.println("abc\ndef"); // abc and def are given in two lines
System.out.println("ab\bcd"); // prints acd
System.out.println("ab \bcd"); // prints abcd, the space before \b is gone
System.out.println("abcdefghij"); // prints ab cd, gives 3 spaces between ab and cd
System.out.println("ab\tcd"); // prints ab cd, gives 3 spaces between ab and cd
System.out.println("a\"bc\"d"); // prints a"bc"d
System.out.println("a\'bc\'d"); // prints a'bc'd
}
}
Nice Tutorial