Escape Characters

As alluded to previously, the backslash character has a special significance that extends beyond its use in forming the newline and null characters. Just as the backslash and the letter n, when used in combination, cause subsequent printing to begin on a new line, so can other characters be combined with the backslash character to perform special functions. These various backslash characters, often referred to as escape characters, are summarized in Table 10.2.

Table 10.2. Escape Characters

Escape	Character Name
\a	Audible alert
\b	Backspace
\f	Form feed
\n	Newline
\r	Carriage return
\t	Horizontal tab
\v	Vertical tab
\\	Backslash
\"	Double quotation mark
\'	Single quotation mark
\?	Question mark
\nnn	Octal character value nnn
\unnnn	Universal character name
\Unnnnnnnn	Universal character name
\xnn	Hexadecimal character value nn