"\\" is stored as a single backslash, just as "\n" is a single newline character. It is printed with an extra backslash.
> nchar("\\") [1] 1 > cat(paste0("\\", "\n")) \ Bill Dunlap TIBCO Software wdunlap tibco.com On Sat, Dec 6, 2014 at 11:00 AM, Prof J C Nash (U30A) <nas...@uottawa.ca> wrote: > This is NOT critical. It arose due to a fumble fingers when developing > an R example, but slightly intriguing. > > How could one build a string from substrings with a single backslash (\) > as separator. Here's the reproducible example: > > fname = "John"; lname = "Smith" > paste(fname, lname) > paste(fname, lname, sep=" / ") > # BUT there's a glitch with backslash > paste(fname, lname, sep=" \ ") # because of escaping character > paste(fname, lname, sep=' \ ') > paste(fname, lname, sep=' \\ ') # because of escaping character > bslash <- "\\" > print(bslash) > paste(fname, lname, sep=bslash) > > Possibly the answer is that R never allows a single backslash in its > strings, but I can imagine possible cases where I might want to output > such lines, for example, in documenting this. > > Best, JN > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.