How to write a string that has new lines (\n) to a file in one line in Python?

Question

Say I have a string str="abc\n\ndef" and I want to write it to a file in a single line as it is. I use file.write(str), however, the new lines will be expanded and the file will be something like

abc


def

Is there a way I could write it into a single line?

see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41063524/write-escaped-character-to-file-so-that-the-character-is-visible — Shivam Jha, Mar 17 '21 at 18:41
You know that `"abc\n\ndef"` is the representation of the string and not the content? That string has 6 characters: a, b, c, d, e, f and 2 newline characters. There is no backslash and no character "n" in the string. So "write as it is" is **not** what you want. — Matthias, Mar 17 '21 at 19:50

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 17 '21 at 18:44

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Use r-strings if you don't want \n to turn into newline:

str=r"abc\n\ndef"
file.write(str)

answered Mar 17 '21 at 18:44

md2perpe

3,372
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How to use r string when you already have a variable (i.e. you do not have access to the definition of the string)? – John M. Mar 17 '21 at 22:14
@JohnM. It wasn't clear what you had. – md2perpe Mar 17 '21 at 22:49

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 17 '21 at 18:44

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I assume you mean you want a file with "abc\n\ndef". If so you can by escaping the escape character: str="abc\\n\\ndef"

answered Mar 17 '21 at 18:44

Carson Rendahl

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Jelle · Answer 3 · 2021-03-17T22:31:21.150

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str="abc\n\ndef"
file.write(repr(str))

this prints 'abc\n\ndef'

EDIT

if you do not want the ' ', use:

str="abc\n\ndef"
file.write(str.replace("\n", "\\n"))

edited Mar 17 '21 at 22:31

answered Mar 17 '21 at 18:45

Jelle

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Nice idea, but now you have the single quotes in the output. – Matthias Mar 17 '21 at 19:52
use str.replace("\\n", "\n") for parsing \n as newline when writing to file – vahid sabet Sep 22 '22 at 12:00

How to write a string that has new lines (\n) to a file in one line in Python?

3 Answers3