How to add single backslash to a Python list?

Question

I want to add single backslash element to my list. I used print("\\") and it printed single backslash; however, when I try to add "\\" to my list, it adds double backslash. How can I solve this problem?

You can see the code below:

signs=["+","x","÷","=","/","\\","$","€","£","@","*","!","#",":",";","&","-","(",")","_","'","\"",".",",","?"]

print("Signs:",signs)

I use the Python 3.7.3 IDLE as IDE.

From now, thanks for your attention!

Be careful not to confuse the actual string and the python representation of the string. If you print the value in your list this will be a single backslash. — mozway, Feb 01 '22 at 09:11
When you try to add `'\'` it should give you a `SyntaxError`. Note that a single backslash `'\\'` is represented just the same way, so the string *representation* is different from the actual string. — a_guest, Feb 01 '22 at 09:11
It's only putting a single backslash in the list. But when you print a list, it shows the representation of the strings in the list, so they're printed with double backslashes. — Barmar, Feb 01 '22 at 09:11
And as a side note, have a look at [string.punctuation](https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#string.punctuation) which gives you '!"#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\]^_`{|}~' and although not necessary, you can pass it to list() in order to convert it to list. — buran, Feb 01 '22 at 09:22

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 01 '22 at 09:12

1

Using a Python REPL

>>> ll = [1,2,3]
>>> ll.append('\\')
>>> ll
[1, 2, 3, '\\']
>>> ll[3]
'\\'
>>> print(ll[3])
\
>>>

If Python displays a string it needs to Escape the backslash, put if you print the element it shows a single backslash

answered Feb 01 '22 at 09:12

rioV8

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 01 '22 at 09:28

Your code print the list as a whole:

signs=["+","x","÷","=","/","\\","$","€","£","@","*","!","#",":",";","&","-","(",")","_","'","\"",".",",","?"]

print("Signs:",signs)

gives:

Signs: ['+', 'x', '÷', '=', '/', '\\', '$', '€', '£', '@', '*', '!', '#', ':', ';', '&', '-', '(', ')', '_', "'", '"', '.', ',', '?']
[]

Use * to print it 'one by one'. * is the unpacking operator that turns a list into positional arguments, print(*[a,b,c]) is the same as print(a,b,c).

signs=["+","x","÷","=","/","\\","$","€","£","@","*","!","#",":",";","&","-","(",")","_","'","\"",".",",","?"]

print("Signs:",*signs)

How to add single backslash to a Python list?

2 Answers2