Define a c++ string as "\"

Question

I need a string that only contains "\". But this doesn't seem to work since (as far as I get it) the compiler sees it as a command instead of a simple string without any meaning.

As you can probably tell, I'm still fairly inexperienced, so aplogies if I'm not that up to speed.

I already tried to use a char, but that also didn't work.

What I want is something like this: std::string mystr = "\";

I get this error message: "A string constant cannot be continued on a second line." Makes sense to me, but doesn't really help me because I'm not even trying to define a string over 2 lines.

2

Just use `"\\"` – πάντα ῥεῖ Aug 17 '19 at 08:41

ruohola · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-17T09:30:04.250

1

You need to escape the backslash:

std::string mystr = "\\";

Alternatively you can use raw string literals:

std::string mystr = R"(\)";

edited Aug 17 '19 at 09:30

answered Aug 17 '19 at 08:42

ruohola

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A bit unfortunate that you don't mention raw string literals – JVApen Aug 17 '19 at 09:24
@JVApen great idea, edited that in! – ruohola Aug 17 '19 at 10:41

Define a c++ string as "\"

1 Answers1