Python: Removing backslash in string?

Question

I have following text output as a str():

"We\'ve ... here\'s why ... That\'s how ... it\'s"

As you see, there's always a "" before the apostrophe.

Then, I tried following:

    text = text.replace("\", "")
                                              
SyntaxError: EOL while scanning string literal

Same happened with text.replace("\\", "") or text.strip("\").

What can I do to get rid of all \ in my text?

Thanks!

Solution:

\' is the way how Python outputs strings. Once you do print() or export the string, there's no issue.

Where is that text output coming from? Something is escaping your apostrophe/single quote. Have your tried `replace("\'","'")`? — roelofs, Nov 22 '17 at 17:06
What puzzles me: print(text) works fine but that's not what I can export.. — Christopher, Nov 22 '17 at 17:06
@Christopher Are you sure "\" is part of your actual string? — Maroun, Nov 22 '17 at 17:06
You **don't need to do anything**. That's just how Python prints strings. — Daniel Roseman, Nov 22 '17 at 17:07
"Same happened with `text.replace("\\", "")`" I can guarantee that this did not cause the same syntax error. It just didn't replace anything, because there is nothing to replace. — Karl Knechtel, Aug 07 '22 at 06:38

DeathCamel57 · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-18T02:56:29.347

In Python 2.7.13, this code:

text = "We\'ve ... here\'s why ... That\'s how ... it\'s"
text = text.replace("\\", "")
print text

outputs We've ... here's why ... That's how ... it's

Are you using a different version of Python, or do you have a specific section of code to look at?

Edit:

I also wanted to mention that the apostrophe's have a backslash before them because it's an escape character. This essentially just means that you're telling the terminal that python is outputting to to interpret the apostrophe literally (in this situation), and to not handle it differently than any other character.

It's also worth noting that there are other good uses for backslashes (\n, or newline is one of the most useful imho).

For example:

text = "We\'ve ... here\'s why ...\nThat\'s how ... it\'s"
print text

outputs:

We've ... here's why ...
That's how ... it's

Not that the \n is interpreted as a request for the terminal to go to a newline before interpreting the rest of the string.

Yes, I got that the print is different than the string. That's the issue. — Christopher, Nov 22 '17 at 17:10
The `replace` call is entirely pointless here. There is nothing to replace. — user2357112, Nov 22 '17 at 17:11
This does not work for py3 versions, any breakthrough are appreciated pls — nikhil int, May 11 '22 at 13:34

Python: Removing backslash in string?

1 Answers1