What does "escape character" mean?

A single metacharacter, usually a control code, which in a sequence of characters signifies that what is to follow takes an alternative interpretation. The term escape sequence refers to the escape character and the subsequent character or characters so modified.

What is a synonym for "escape character"?

Common synonyms include: backslash, backslashes, escape.

Escape character

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A single metacharacter, usually a control code, which in a sequence of characters signifies that what is to follow takes an alternative interpretation. The term escape sequence refers to the escape character and the subsequent character or characters so modified.
"In the C programming language, the backslash is an escape character; for example, \n represents a newline."

Synonyms

All synonyms

backslash backslashes escape

Example

More examples

"In the C programming language, the backslash is an escape character; for example, \n represents a newline."

Etymology

From escape + character.

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