Escape Sequence In C

Escape Sequence In C

Escape sequences in C are like secret codes that tell the computer to do special things when we’re printing text. They help us make our text look and behave the way we want it to. Whether it’s making a new line, adding spaces, or even doing things we can’t see, escape sequences are handy tools for making our computer programs look just right. In this guide, we’ll explore how to use these secret codes in C to make our text and output better.

Escape Sequence List

Escape Sequence	Name	Description
\a	Alarm or Beep	It is used to generate a bell sound in the C program.
\b	Backspace	It is used to move the cursor one place backward.
\f	Form Feed	It is used to move the cursor to the start of the next logical page.
\n	New Line	It moves the cursor to the start of the next line.
\r	Carriage Return	It moves the cursor to the start of the current line.
\t	Horizontal Tab	It inserts some whitespace to the left of the cursor and moves the cursor accordingly.
\v	Vertical Tab	It is used to insert vertical space.
\\	Backlash	Use to insert backslash character.
\’	Single Quote	It is used to display a single quotation mark.
\”	Double Quote	It is used to display double quotation marks.
\?	Question Mark	It is used to display a question mark.
\ooo	Octal Number	It is used to represent an octal number.
\xhh	Hexadecimal Number	It represents the hexadecimal number.
\0	NULL	It represents the NULL character.

Escape Sequence in C Examples

1. Example to Demonstrate how to use \ an Escape Sequence in C

// C program to illustrate  \a escape sequence
#include <stdio.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    // output may depend upon the compiler
    printf("My mobile number "
           "is 7\a8\a7\a3\a9\a2\a3\a4\a0\a8\a");
    return (0);
}

Output

My mobile number is 7873923408

2. Example to Demonstrate how to use \b Escape Sequence in C

// C program to illustrate  \b escape sequence
#include <stdio.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    // \b - backspace character transfers
    // the cursor one character back with
    // or without deleting on different
    // compilers.
    printf("Hello \b\b\b\b\b\bHi Geeks");
    return (0);
}

Output

Hi Geeks

3. Example to Demonstrate how to use \n Escape Sequence in C

// C program to illustrate \n escape sequence
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
    // Here we are using \n, which is a new line character.
    printf("Hello\n");
    printf("GeeksforGeeks");
    return (0);
}

Output

Hello
GeeksforGeeks

4. Example to Demonstrate how to use \t Escape Sequence in C

// C program to illustrate \t escape sequence
#include <stdio.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    // Here we are using \t, which is
    // a horizontal tab character.
    // It will provide a tab space
    // between two words.
    printf("Hello \t GFG");
    return (0);
}

Output

Hello      GFG

5. Example to Demonstrate how to use \v Escape Sequence in C

// C program to illustrate \v escape sequence
#include <stdio.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    // Here we are using \v, which
    // is vertical tab character.
    printf("Hello friends\v");
 
    printf("Welcome to GFG");
 
    return (0);
}

Output

Hello friends
                       Welcome to GFG

6. Example to Demonstrate how to use \r Escape Sequence in C

// C program to illustrate \r escape sequence
#include <stdio.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    // Here we are using \r, which
    // is carriage return character.
    printf("Hello   Geeks \rGeeksfor");
    return (0);
}

Output

GeeksforGeeks

7. Example to Demonstrate how to use \\ Escape Sequence in C

// C program to illustrate \\(Backslash)
// escape sequence to print backslash.
#include <stdio.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    // Here we are using \,
    // It contains two escape sequence
    // means \ and \n.
    printf("Hello\\GFG");
    return (0);
}

Output

Hello\GFG

8. Example to Demonstrate how to use \’ and \” Escape Sequence in C

// C program to illustrate \' escape
// sequence/ and \" escape sequence to
// print single quote and double quote.
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
    printf("\' Hello Geeks\n");
    printf("\" Hello Geeks");
    return 0;
}

Output

' Hello Geeks
" Hello Geeks

9. Example to Demonstrate how to use \? Escape Sequence in C

// C program to illustrate
// \? escape sequence
#include <stdio.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    // Here we are using \?, which is
    // used for the presentation of trigraph
    // in the early of C programming. But
    // now we don't have any use of it.
    printf("\?\?!\n");
    return 0;
}

Output

??!

10. Example to demonstrate how to use \ooo escape sequence in C

// C program to illustrate \OOO escape sequence
#include <stdio.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    // we are using \OOO escape sequence, here
    // each O in "OOO" is one to three octal
    // digits(0....7).
    char* s = "A\072\065";
    printf("%s", s);
    return 0;
}

Output

A:5

Expalnation

when we see “\000” in the text, it means we’re dealing with one to three octal digits (0 to 7). This must start with at least one octal digit and can have up to three.

For example, if we have “\072” in the text, this octal notation gets converted to decimal, which is the ASCII value for the character “:”. So, wherever we see “\072”, it’s replaced with “:” in the output. For instance, the output might look like “A:5”.

11. Example to Demonstrate how to use \xhh Escape Sequence in C

// C program to illustrate \XHH escape
// sequence
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
    // We are using \xhh escape sequence.
    // Here hh is one or more hexadecimal
    // digits(0....9, a...f, A...F).
    char* s = "B\x4a";
    printf("%s", s);
    return 0;
}

BJ

Explanation

when you see “\x” followed by one or more hexadecimal digits (0 to 9, a to f, A to F), it represents a hexadecimal number. It’s essential to have at least one hexadecimal digit after “\x,” but there can be more than one.

For instance, when you encounter “\x4a,” it’s a hexadecimal number that gets converted into its decimal equivalent, which happens to be the ASCII value for the character ‘J’. So, wherever you find “\x4a,” you can replace it with ‘J’. Therefore, the output would be “BJ.”

FAQ- Escape Sequence In C