Question

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Can I convert a C# string value to an escaped string literal

How can I print a string (via Console.WriteLine()) such that any/all escape sequences that may exist in the string is printed verbatim?

Example:

string s = "This \r\n has \t special \\ characters.";
Console.WriteLine(s);

/* Output (I don't want this)

This 
 has    special \ characters.

*/

I want the output to read:

This \r\n has \t special \\ characters.

Note that in my application I am receiving the string (which contains the escape sequences) from a third party – i.e. If I were creating the string myself, I’m aware that I could just do

string s = @"This \r\n has \t special \\ characters.";

Answer 1

The only way to do this is to decode the escape sequences yourself and put them back as literal entries into the string. This would require some sort of conversion function. For example

string EscapeIt(string value) {
  var builder = new StringBuilder();
  foreach (var cur in value) {
    switch (cur) {
      case '\t': 
        builder.Append(@"\t");
        break;
      case '\r': 
        builder.Append(@"\r");
        break;
      case '\n':
        builder.Append(@"\n");
        break;
      // etc ...
      default:
        builder.Append(cur);
        break;
    }
  }
  return builder.ToString();
}