\ in idle?
 

trying to write some python on my macbook, but when in idle I cannot make the \. Why? Everywhere else it works. Just not in idle, I can make every other characters even the /, but just not \. Can somebody help me please? Using macbook intel with OS 10.4.9 if that helps you in helping me.


-thondal-

i'm a n00b programmer, but i'll try to answer anyway.

Are you trying to print out \ ?

Probably need an escape sequence to print it out, e.g:
\\
\"

Yes, Python, like almost all other languages, reserves the "\" character for identifying escape sequences. If you want to output a newline you print "\n", a tab is "\t", an alert is "\a", etc, etc...

You can get a complete list on all of the different escape sequences.

To output a slash, you can write, as kurt mentioned:

Escape sequences can also be used to output an apostraphe without closing your print statement:

no.... i meant just the \.. at all in idle.. i can´t write it at all.. is this a common problem in idle..

I know enough python to know how to print it out.. problem is, i can´t write it at all when i´m in idle.. i can when i write it in word, and other places, like here.. i know it is the alt+command 7, but it won´t show when I try to write it...

-thondal-

Hmmm. Are you saying there's not a key for it on your particular keyboard, and that a sequence that normally generates it is not being interpreted properly by Idle?

well.. on my norwegian keyboard there is only one way to get it, and that is to do command+shift 7... but where is that button on the ameriac/us/english layout? because if there is a button for it there, then i could just change over to that kind of layout and write code.. got a picture of one? :D

-thondal-

Okay, so i just changed my keyboard layout to the us layout, and now i can use the \... hurray....

Great. Incidentally, on a typical US keyboard the '\' is right below the backspace key. I'm mildly surprised that there isn't a dedicated key for it, given its common usage as a path delimiter, as well as (for programming-type users) an escape character.

I believe OS X uses the forward slash character as the standard path delimiter, so perhaps a Norwegian Macbook keyboard doesn't bother with having an easy-to-find backslash, as presumably it's rarely used.

well, i found it rather difficult to program in python(idle) when i have to use us layout, because i have no idea where the " are, and all the other stuff, it kinda gets upside down. So, think I have to find a norwegian forum for this one. Sorry to bother you guys, and Dawei, thanks for the quick reply.

-thondal-