483:) is used in many output devices to start a series of characters called a control sequence or escape sequence. Typically, the escape character was sent first in such a sequence to alert the device that the following characters were to be interpreted as a control sequence rather than as plain characters, then one or more characters would follow to specify some detailed action, after which the device would go back to interpreting characters normally. For example, the sequence of
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1210:
579:) escape character typically provides two ways to include double-quotes inside a string literal, either by modifying the meaning of the double-quote character embedded in the string (
525:
is usually found on standard PC keyboards. However, it is commonly absent from keyboards for PDAs and other devices not designed primarily for ASCII communications. The DEC
533:
of the 1970sā1980s it was not uncommon to use this key as an escape character, but in modern desktop computers, such use is dropped. Sometimes the key was identified with
785:
remains unexpanded. So to refer to a file literally called "*", the shell must be told not to interpret it in this way, by preceding it with a backslash (
166:
In the telecommunications field, escape characters are used to indicate that the following characters are encoded differently. This is used to alter
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Some programming languages also provide other ways to represent special characters in literals, without requiring an escape character (see e.g.
529:
series was one of the few popular keyboards that did not have a dedicated Esc key, instead of using one of the keys above the main keypad. In
255:
In many programming languages, an escape character also forms some escape sequences which are referred to as control characters. For example,
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that invokes an alternative interpretation on the following characters in a character sequence. An escape character is a particular case of
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null character (U+0000 NULL) (only if the next character is not a decimal digit; else it is an octal escape sequence)
244:) then any escape character for this device is a control one. But escape characters used in programming (such as the
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186:
An escape character may not have its own meaning, so all escape sequences are of two or more characters.
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252:"control characters" have some control function in isolation, therefore they are not escape characters.
156:
163:. Generally, the judgement of whether something is an escape character or not depends on the context.
1077:
556:
514:'s IBM technical publications, who is credited with inventing this mechanism during his work on the
439:"Using \\r \rWill imitate a carriage return, which means shifting to the start of the row"
170:
that would otherwise be noticed and acted on by the underlying telecommunications hardware, such as
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421:"Using \\t \twill shift the characters after \\t one tab length to the right"
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for many programming languages, data formats, and communication protocols. For a given
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used to type characters that are unusual for the locale of the keyboard layout.
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to the 10th cell of the 2nd line of the screen. This was later developed into
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942:
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before being passed to a higher level protocol. This is applied to both
403:"Using \\n \nWill shift the characters after \\n one row down"
197:
an escape character's purpose is to start character sequences (so named
174:. In this context, the use of escape characters is often referred to as
934:
832:
1186:
1111:
701:) as an escape character. The octet immediately following should be
228:
Generally, an escape character is not a particular case of (device)
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consisting of an escape character itself and a "quoted" character.
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An early reference to the term "escape character" is found in
40:
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all allow exactly the same two backslash escape styles. The
236:, or as having a special meaning for an output device (e.g.
16:
Character used to quote special-purpose characters, e.g. '\'
1162:. Microsoft Developer Network. 2014-05-08. Archived from
232:, nor vice versa. If we define control characters as non-
655:) character may be considered as an escape character in
875:, though it has similar syntax, does not support this.
789:). This modifies the interpretation of the asterisk (
1104:"How Bob Bemer Invented the ESCAPE Sequence and Key"
491:, would cause a Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
351:). If cross-browser compatibility is a concern, use
1187:
That
Powerful ESCAPE Character -- Key and Sequences
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71:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
371:character represented by the hexadecimal byte "FF"
19:For escaping markup in Knowledge (XXG) edits, see
773:will expand to the names of all files in the
8:
806:# delete all files in the current directory
769:. Without a preceding escape character, an
204:The functions of escape sequences include:
383:escapes are not allowed in JSON strings.
131:Learn how and when to remove this message
542:
280:(backslash) as an escape character for:
211:To represent characters, referred to as
1057:"JavaScript character escape sequences"
1048:
895:The syntax of the command is incorrect.
487:, followed by the printable characters
900:whereas this will output the string:
7:
948:For example, the following command:
721:, it is transmitted as the sequence
559:specify the double-quote character (
475:, also represented by the sequences
69:adding citations to reliable sources
1059:. Mathias Bynens. 21 December 2011
541:while simultaneously holding down
189:Escape characters are part of the
14:
1084:from the original on Dec 14, 2014
1078:"Special Characters (JavaScript)"
713:itself and the control character
1209: This article incorporates
1204:
1141:. MacMillan Technical Publishing
833:Windows command-line interpreter
781:there are such files, otherwise
777:that do not start with a period
621:also use backslash escapes. The
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1222:General Services Administration
1080:. Microsoft Developer Network.
56:needs additional citations for
1135:"The Windows NT Command Shell"
455:The ASCII "escape" character (
1:
873:DOS command-line interpreter
659:and derived formats such as
551:Programming and data formats
1102:Bemer, Bob (Oct 25, 2003).
347:instead of a vertical tab (
1266:
1027:Leaning toothpick syndrome
259:has an escape sequence of
25:
18:
1160:"about_Escape_Characters"
1005:) as an escape character.
817:# delete the file named *
950:
905:
880:
810:
802:
629:as an escape character.
505:Printer Command Language
388:
26:Not to be confused with
684:Point-to-Point Protocol
678:Communication protocols
617:language and Microsoft
1217:Federal Standard 1037C
1211:public domain material
827:Windows Command Prompt
451:ASCII escape character
1022:Escape sequences in C
557:programming languages
495:terminal to move its
276:JavaScript uses the
65:improve this article
923:<hello world>
902:<hello world>
763:wildcard characters
672:delimiter collision
337:Internet Explorer 9
1248:Control characters
1192:2016-03-25 at the
1037:Stropping (syntax)
929:Windows PowerShell
729:is transmitted as
625:encoding uses the
471:, or, in decimal,
230:control characters
172:illegal characters
168:control characters
149:telecommunications
80:"Escape character"
1133:Tim Hill (1998).
1114:on 4 January 2018
824:
823:
775:working directory
761:) characters are
501:ANSI escape codes
339:and older treats
224:Control character
213:character quoting
141:
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28:control character
1255:
1243:Pattern matching
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1229:
1224:. Archived from
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1110:. Archived from
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1032:Nested quotation
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1228:on 2022-01-22.
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52:
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1226:the original
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743:Bourne shell
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63:Please help
58:verification
55:
999:equals sign
954:PS C:\>
917:hello world
839:character (
627:equals sign
465:hexadecimal
355:instead of
1237:Categories
1170:2016-11-24
1145:2010-01-13
1088:2014-06-30
1063:2014-06-30
1044:References
976:First line
966:First line
939:PowerShell
745:(sh), the
615:PostScript
523:Escape key
272:JavaScript
257:line break
182:Definition
121:April 2010
91:newspapers
36:Escape key
1198:Bob Bemer
1108:Bob Bemer
1016:AltGr key
731:0x7D 0x5E
723:0x7D 0x5D
649:ampersand
573:backslash
565:delimiter
512:Bob Bemer
349:'\x0B
329:form feed
323:backspace
299:backslash
246:backslash
157:character
145:computing
21:WP:NOWIKI
1190:Archived
1118:22 March
1082:Archived
1010:See also
979:New line
943:backtick
767:globbing
747:asterisk
591:becomes
583:becomes
305:new line
267:Examples
195:alphabet
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884:C:\>
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581:\"
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535:AltMode
427:console
409:console
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234:graphic
217:digraph
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