Java Escape Characters

In this section, we will discuss Java escape characters or escape sequences. Also, we will use these escape sequences or characters in a Java program.

What are escape characters?

In Java, if a character is preceded by a backslash (\) is known as Java escape sequence or escape characters. It may include letters, numerals, punctuations, etc. Remember that escape characters must be enclosed in quotation marks (""). These are the valid character literals. The Java compiler interprets these characters as a single character that adds a specific meaning to the compiler.

List of Java Escape Characters

In Java, there is a total of eight escape sequences that are described in the following table.

Why do we use escape characters?

Let's understand the uses of escape characters through the following example. Suppose, we have to print the following statement with double quotes:

The following statements do not print Java enclosed in quotation marks.

While we compile the program with the above two statements, the compiler gives errors, as shown below.

In such a case, the compiler needs to be told that quotation marks do not signal the start or end of a string, but instead are to be printed. The following statement prints statements with quotation marks.

Using Escape Characters in Java Program

EscapeCharaterExample.java

Output:

Andrew	Garfield
the best way
to communicate 
an idea 
is to act it out
And\Or
Carriage
Return
Wall Street's
'JavaTpoint'

Unicode Escape Characters

Java also supports Unicode escape characters. A Unicode escape character consists of a backslash (/) followed by one or more u characters and four hexadecimal digits (\uxxxx). Here, \uxxxx represents \u0000 to \uFFFF.

While interpreting the string if the compiler finds something in the Unicode representation, the compiler replaces it with a respective symbol according to the Java specification.

List of Unicode Character or Escape Sequence

The following table describes the widely used Unicode Character Sequence.

Unicode Character Sequence Example

UnicodeCharacterExample.java

Output:

"Example of Unicode Character Sequence", © 2021 JavaTpoint