How can I print a single backslash?
backslash, escaping, python
Solution
You need to escape your backslash by preceding it with, yes, another backslash:
print("\\")
The `\` character is called an escape character, which interprets the character following it differently. For example, `n` by itself is simply a letter, but when you precede it with a backslash, it becomes `\n`, which is the newline character.
As you can probably guess, `\` also needs to be escaped so it doesn't function like an escape character. You have to... escape the escape, essentially.
See the documentation for string literals.
Problem
When I write `print('\')` or `print("\")` or `print("'\'")`, Python doesn't print the backslash `\` symbol. Instead it errors for the first two and prints `''` for the third. What should I do to print a backslash? This question is about producing a string that has a single backslash in it. This is particularly tricky because it cannot be done with raw strings. For the related question about why such a string is represented with two backslashes, see Why do backslashes appear twice?. For including literal backslashes in other strings, see using backslash in python (not to escape).