Python regex '\s' vs '\s'

Question

I have simple expression `\s` and `\s`. Both expression matches `This is Sparta!!`. ``` >>> re.findall('\s',"This is Sparta") [' ', ' '] >>> re.findall('\s',"This is Sparta") [' ', ' '] ``` I am confused here. `\` is used to escape special character and `\s` represents white space but, how both are acting here?

Accepted Answer

Don't confuse python-level string-escaping and regex-level string-escaping. Since `s` is not an escapable character at python-level, the interpreter understand a string like "\s" as the two characters "" and "s". Replace "s" with "n" (for example), and it understands it as the newline character.

```
'\s' == '\s'
True
'
' == '\n'
False
```

Python regex '\s' vs '\\s'

Solution

Problem