How to print single '\' (slash) in python?

Question

My required output is :

 'grep "key\":\"value" test_File.txt'

for example, what i tried is..

>>> cmd = 'grep "key\":\"value" test_File.txt'
>>> cmd
 'grep "key":"value" test_File.txt'

but it prints two slashes when i try to escape the actual slash.

>>> cmd = 'grep "key\\":\\"value" test_File.txt'
>>> cmd
 'grep "key\\":\\"value" test_File.txt'
 >>>

all i need is ,how can i get the first line as output ?

just `print(cmd)`. You are printing the `repr` of the string. — juanpa.arrivillaga, Mar 16 '17 at 06:02
What are you actually trying to accomplish here? This looks very much like you are trying to print a command to be executed by the shell, and being very confused about the shell's quoting rules. A valid `grep` command would look like `grep '"key":"value"' test_File.txt` but I am second-guessing several details here. With `subprocess` you want to avoid `shell=True` and pass just `['grep', '"key":"value"', 'test_File.txt']` instead of a string. — tripleee, Mar 16 '17 at 06:15
yeah,i am trying to pass this as a command to subprocess to get executed , — chetan honnavile, Mar 16 '17 at 06:25
This isn't a real duplicate of anything, but instead a typo. OP wanted to `print` something, but wrote code that doesn't use `print`; there is nothing wrong with the actual string contents. — Karl Knechtel, Aug 07 '22 at 01:55

selbie · Answer 1 · 2017-03-16T06:10:42.437

0

Don't get the escaped string confused with what's actually printed.

>>> cmd = '\'grep "key\\":\\"value\" test_File.txt\''
>>> print cmd
'grep "key\":\"value" test_File.txt'

I believe that matches your required output.

edited Mar 16 '17 at 06:10

answered Mar 16 '17 at 06:05

selbie

1 Answers1