Unrecognized escape sequence for path string containing backslashes

The following code generates a compiler error about an "unrecognized escape sequence" for each backslash:

string foo = "D:\Projects\Some\Kind\Of\Pathproblem\wuhoo.xml";

I guess I need to escape backslash? How do I do that?

Solution 1:

You can either use a double backslash each time

string foo = "D:\\Projects\\Some\\Kind\\Of\\Pathproblem\\wuhoo.xml";

or use the @ symbol

string foo = @"D:\Projects\Some\Kind\Of\Pathproblem\wuhoo.xml";

Solution 2:

Try this:

string foo = @"D:\Projects\Some\Kind\Of\Pathproblem\wuhoo.xml";

The problem is that in a string, a \ is an escape character. By using the @ sign you tell the compiler to ignore the escape characters.

You can also get by with escaping the \:

string foo = "D:\\Projects\\Some\\Kind\\Of\\Pathproblem\\wuhoo.xml";

Solution 3:

var foo = @"D:\Projects\Some\Kind\Of\Pathproblem\wuhoo.xml";

Solution 4:

If your string is a file path, as in your example, you can also use Unix style file paths:

string foo = "D:/Projects/Some/Kind/Of/Pathproblem/wuhoo.xml";

But the other answers have the more general solutions to string escaping in C#.