Unrecognized escape sequence for string containing backslashes - in C#

Question

string foo = "D:\Projects\Some\Kind\Of\Pathproblem\wuhoo.xml";

I get a compile error "Unrecognized escape sequence" for each backslash.

I guess I need to escape backslash - how?

Answer 1

var foo = @"D:\Projects\Some\Kind\Of\Pathproblem\wuhoo.xml";

Answer 2

try this

string foo = @"D:\Projects\Some\Kind\Of\Pathproblem\wuhoo.xml";

the problem is that in a string a \ is an escape character. By using the @ sign you tell the compiler to ignore the escape characters.

You can also get by with escaping the \

string foo = "D:\\Projects\\Some\\Kind\\Of\\Pathproblem\\wuhoo.xml";

Answer 3

You can either use a double backslash each time

string foo = "D:\\Projects\\Some\\Kind\\Of\\Pathproblem\\wuhoo.xml";

or use the @ symbol

string foo = @"D:\Projects\Some\Kind\Of\Pathproblem\wuhoo.xml";

Answer 4

string foo = "D:\\Projects\\Some\\Kind\\Of\\Pathproblem\\wuhoo.xml";

This will work, or the previous examples will, too. @"..." means treat everything between the quote marks literally, so you can do

@"Hello
world"

To include a literal newline. I'm more old school and prefer to escape "\" with "\\"

Answer 5

If your string is a file path, as in your example, you can also use unix style file paths

string foo = "D:/Projects/Some/Kind/Of/Pathproblem/wuhoo.xml";

But the other answers have the more general solutions to string escaping in C#

Answer 6

You failed to use Google.

Search for "C# escape backslash", and the answer comes up quickly, validating what other posters have said: either use "\\", or use @ to take the string literally.

Answer 7

hey if i escape "\" with "\" it stores the value as "\" itself in my string... pl help me out...

eg:

string cns=".\SQLEXPRESS";

i gave as

string cns=".\SQLEXPRESS" OR @".\SQLEXPRESS"

both stores my cns value as ".\SQLEXPRESS"

pl help me out...