A character preceded by a backslash (\) is an escape sequence and has special meaning to the compiler. The following table shows the Java escape sequences:

Escape Sequence Description
\t Insert a tab in the text at this point.
\b Insert a backspace in the text at this point.
\n Insert a newline in the text at this point.
\r Insert a carriage return in the text at this point.
\f Insert a form feed in the text at this point.
\' Insert a single quote character in the text at this point.
\" Insert a double quote character in the text at this point.
\\ Insert a backslash character in the text at this point.

When an escape sequence is encountered in a print statement, the compiler interprets it accordingly. For example, if you want to put quotes within quotes you must use the escape sequence, \", on the interior quotes.

Java specifics:
  • Character Literals: Java has distinct character literals (single quotes) which also utilize escape sequences for special characters.
  • Octal and Hexadecimal Escapes: Java supports octal escapes (e.g., \123) and hexadecimal escapes (such as, \xAB) for representing characters by their numeric values.