the docs make it sound like you can continue strings: “long lines can be broken up” but it’s giving me an error in the repl: julia> "This is a long \ ERROR: ParseError: # Error @ REPL[1]:1:17 "This is a long \ # ╙ ── invalid escape sequence Stacktrace: [1] top-level scope @ none…

it sounds like we have different bugs, so potentially both? one created here

on ubuntu 22, gnome terminal, julia version 1.11.6 I thought there was some command like osinfo() or something but can’t remember it

julia> versioninfo() Julia Version 1.11.6 Commit 9615af0f269 (2025-07-09 12:58 UTC) Build Info: Official https://julialang.org/ release Platform Info: OS: Linux (x86_64-linux-gnu) CPU: 12 × 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1265U WORD_SIZE: 64 LLVM: libLLVM-16.0.6 (ORCJIT, alderlake) Threads: …

If I put a space after the backslash I can reproduce the problem: julia> "This is a very \ long string" ERROR: ParseError: # Error @ REPL[4]:1:17 "This is a very \ # └┘ ── invalid escape sequence Stacktrace: [1] top-level scope @ none:1 The error message is bad. But if y…

julia> "no space after\ ERROR: ParseError: # Error @ REPL[1]:1:16 "no space after\ # ╙ ── invalid escape sequence Stacktrace: [1] top-level scope @ none:1 julia> "one space after\ ERROR: ParseError: # Error @ REPL[2]:1:17 "one space after\ # └┘ ── invalid escape seq…

It seems I can continue strings with two backslashes (\) in Julia 1.11.6, but not with a single backslash

two backslashes create a single backslash as expected on my end: julia> "no backslashes some text" "no backslashes\nsome text" julia> "two backslashes\\ some text" "two backslashes\\\nsome text"

For me it sometimes works, sometimes it doesn’t. Could not figure out why or when yet. Also on Ubuntu and Julia 1.11.6. Perhaps this is a Heisenbug ?

I’m also not sure what’s going on but probably an issue with JuliaSyntax. An effective workaround is to use Alt+Enter at the end of the line and continue the string on the next line.

String line continuation

New to Julia

ufechner7 July 15, 2025, 8:21pm 2

Works for me:

julia> "This is a very \
       long string"
"This is a very long string"

Which Julia version do you use? Which OS? Which terminal?

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String line continuation

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