Java string array double quote error

Question

When I'm writing out my string, it tells me the string literal is not properly closed, but it looks like it is..? and then if i take out the /|\ the error moves down 2 lines to the legs. I researched and i cant seem to know what the problem is...

public static void printMan(int badGuesses) {
    String[] man = new String[];
             man={"______",
                  "|    |",
                  "|    o",
                  "|    |",
                  "|   /|\", //it tells me that i need to insert missing quote
                  "|    |",
                  "|   / \"
                 };
    int counter = 0;
    while (counter < badGuesses) {
        System.out.println(man[counter]);
    }

5

The head should be a capital O – copy Jun 23 '13 at 18:22

score 9 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Looks like you got an escape character

\ Is an escape character, you need to escape it too in this scenario. Otherwise, you'd get an unterminated string. \" means the actual character " rather than the start or an end of a string.

If you want the actual character \ you need to escape it too: \\

 String[] man = new String[]{
              "|    |",
              "|    o",
              "|    |",
              "|   /|\\",  \\<- note the extra \
              "|    |",
              "|   / \\"   \\<- note the extra \ here too
             };

The official Java Tutorial

See the section on escape sequences in the official java tutorial:

A character preceded by a backslash (\) is an escape sequence and has special meaning to the compiler. The following table shows the Java escape sequences (me: table in link)

The language specification

This is of course in line with the language specification:

StringLiteral:
   "StringCharacters"

  StringCharacters:
   StringCharacter
   | StringCharacters StringCharacter

  StringCharacter:
   InputCharacter but not " or \
   | EscapeSequence

   
EscapeSequence:
    \ b    
    \ t   
    \ n   
    \ f   
    \ r    
    \ "   
    \ '  
    \ \  < -  **THIS IS THE ONE YOU HAD**
    OctalEscape   /* \u0000 to \u00ff: from octal value */

(related question)

A broader view

Wikipedia has an interesting article on escape characters too:

In computing and telecommunication, an escape character is a character which invokes an alternative interpretation on subsequent characters in a character sequence. An escape character is a particular case of metacharacters. Generally, the judgement of whether something is an escape character or not depends on context.

Noting:

C, C++, Java, and Ruby all allow exactly the same two backslash escape styles.

Here is another related question here on SO about escaping strings.

Now that's a good opportunity to learn about *community wiki*. Why this answer is a one? :D — Maroun, Jun 23 '13 at 18:23
@MarounMaroun to avoid gaining rep that was percieved as undeserved by OP — John Dvorak, Jun 23 '13 at 18:24
@MarounMaroun It's a trivial question, as such I did not want rep for it. On the other hand it's something a lot of users know about so it got a lot of edits from a lot of different users fast - doing this allowed us to produce a fast high quality answer. — Benjamin Gruenbaum, Jun 23 '13 at 18:25

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 23 '13 at 18:20

This is because you are using an excape character.. \" causes " to be considered, add \\"

man={"______",
          "|    |",
          "|    o",
          "|    |",
          "|   /|\\",  \\ and extra slash here
          "|    |",
          "|   / \\"   \\ and here
         };

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 23 '13 at 18:21

You also declare bad the array, if you use initializater must be in this way cause if not you have to provide size to the array.

String[] man = new String[]{"______",
             "|    |",
             "|    o",
             "|    |",
             "|   /|\\",
             "|    |",
             "|   / \\"
            };

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 23 '13 at 18:19

0

\ is an escape character. You have to escape it again, so the last line should look like:

"|   / \\"

answered Jun 23 '13 at 18:19

darijan

9,725
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38

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 23 '13 at 18:36

public static void printMan(int badGuesses) {

String[] man = new String[];
         man={"______",
              "|    |",
              "|    o",
              "|    |",
              "|   /|\", //it tells me that i need to insert missing quote
              "|    |",
              "|   / \"
             };
int counter = 0;
while (counter < badGuesses) {
    System.out.println(man[counter]);
}

Suggestion: 1. Add one extra \ before each \ you used in code.

Its a good practice to initialize in the declaration when you are initializing the array anonymously. Like String []man=new String[]{"_","| |"};

Java string array double quote error

5 Answers5

Looks like you got an escape character

The official Java Tutorial

The language specification

A broader view