Elisp: String

By Xah Lee. Date: . Last updated: .

String Syntax

emacs lisp string is quoted by a double straight quote (U+22: QUOTATION MARK)

This is the only syntax for quoting string. 

"this is a string"

(length "abc")
;; 3

String Escape

To include a double quote, use \" 

"he said \"something\""

This is called string escape sequence.

Here's most commonly used escapes:

\n
newline character. Unicode codepoint 10 (Line feed). 
"some
thing"

"or some\nthing"
\\
backslash. Unicode codepoint 92. 
"some\\thing"
\t
Tab character. Unicode codepoint 9 (Horizontal Tab). 〔see ASCII Characters〕
\uxxxx
Unicode Escape Sequence
\U00xxxxxx
Unicode Escape Sequence

Reference

Elisp, String