Java Escape Sequences in OS X Terminal

Question

Java Escape Sequences in OS X Terminal

Is it just me or do the normal escape sequences for Java not work in OS X Terminal? I've been fiddling around with my code but no matter how I do it, the escape sequences always show up as errors when I compile my java file.

Is there some sort of OS X Terminal alternative to regular Java escape sequences buried somewhere on the internet? I swear I've been searching for hours now but I still can't find anything remotely close to the problem I'm having.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Posted on Sep 17, 2015 7:00 PM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,318 points

Sep 17, 2015 7:07 PM in response to DanielKuhlwein

Are you placing the escape characters in a command in the Terminal? If so, that won't work. The shell doesn't understand Java String escape sequences.

They are used in text strings in Java class files.

Perhaps an example of what you type into the Terminal would help understand what you are trying to do.

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Answer 2

Sep 17, 2015 8:13 PM in response to Barney-15E

No, I'm just using Terminal to compile and run my java program.

For example, this simple java program has escape sequences for quotation marks inside the string.

public class simple

{

public static void main( String[] args )

{

System.out.println(“She said \“Hello World\””);

}

when I go to the terminal to compile I get 8 errors. The first error says:

simple.java:7: error: illegal character: '\u201c'

System.out.println(“She said \“Hello World\””);

^

simple.java:7: error: ';' expected

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,318 points

Sep 18, 2015 6:49 AM in response to DanielKuhlwein

Are the curly quotes an artifact of this forum, or are they in your code? You can't use them in the code .

u201c means left double quote, so that may be about four of them.

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Answer 4

Sep 18, 2015 6:49 AM in response to Barney-15E

Thank you! You are right. I fixed my code and it compiles fine now.

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