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I'm trying to replace backslashes or front slashes in a string with double backslashes. I've tried a couple of things but it doesn't seem to work.¨

My work so far: 

string = 'C:\Users\Victor\Dropbox\Private\files\test.txt'

f = re.sub(r'[\\\/]', '\\\\', string)

This prints the string:

'C:\Users\Victor\Dropbox\Privateiles   est.txt'

But what i really want is a string that looks like this:

'C:\\Users\\Victor\\Dropbox\\Private\\files\\test.txt'

So that when i print the string it will look like the original

'C:\Users\Victor\Dropbox\Private\files\test.txt'
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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

Just convert that string to a raw string:

>>> string = r'C:\Users\Victor\Dropbox\Private\files\test.txt'
>>> string
'C:\\Users\\Victor\\Dropbox\\Private\\files\\test.txt'
>>> print string
C:\Users\Victor\Dropbox\Private\files\test.txt
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3 Comments

What about strings as variables? string = raw_input('test: ') How do i make it interpret the string as a raw string?
I don't know if the edit was supposed to answer my question, but it did not. I still can't interpret user input as a raw string
+1 for raw string. :) @VictorVH if the answer is correct please consider accepting it.
1

If what you are really getting at is path manipulation, I'd just use the os module.

>>> s = r'C:\Users\Victor\Dropbox\Private\files\test.txt'
>>> import os
>>> os.path.normcase(s)
'C:\\Users\\Victor\\Dropbox\\Private\\files\\test.txt'

os.path.normcase

Normalize the case of a pathname. On Unix and Mac OS X, this returns the path unchanged; on case-insensitive filesystems, it converts the path to lowercase. On Windows, it also converts forward slashes to backward slashes. Raise a TypeError if the type of path is not str or bytes.

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8 Comments

This makes sure to treat the string as a path or?
Please read the description I just added for normcase, it is safe to use as a path after using that function. Note that it is still a string literal as far as python is concerned
I just tried this. It returns an invalid string: c:\users\victor\dropbox\private ilewatcher\main.py
Hmm that is strange, I copy-pasted that right out of my IDLE terminal. What IDE are you using, and on what OS?
+1 for using os. Also, you may be interested in raw strings which don't interpret the backslash as an escape character. r"C:\Users\Victor\Dropbox\Private\files\test.txt".
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