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From: Andy Anderson <aanderson@amherst.edu>
To: pgsql-docs@postgresql.org
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Subject: Backslash Escape Sequences
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:26:00 -0400
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On the list pgsql-general, I had this exchange:

>>> Andy Anderson <aanderson@amherst.edu> writes:
>>>> In a test I just did, the sequence \" (backslash double-quote) is  
>>>> interpreted as just a " inside of the E'...' string constant  
>>>> expression. This is great, since PHP's addslashes() sticks them  
>>>> in along with the other stuff I really need to quote like ' and  
>>>> \. But I see that \" isn't documented in the manual in section  
>>>> 4.1.2.1.  I assume this is, in fact, standard behavior for  
>>>> Postgres? (Perhaps a comprehensive table might be a good idea at  
>>>> this point in the manual.)
>>
>> Tom Lane wrote:
>>> Huh?  It says
>>>
>>>   Any other character following a backslash is taken literally.
>>>
>>>
>
>  Andy Anderson wrote:
>> Ah, slight ambiguity here. Perhaps this might best say "Any other  
>> character following a backslash is taken literally, and the  
>> backslash is removed."

In any case, here's a contribution to the manual, a short table with  
this information, in a format that might help make the subject  
clearer. Modify at will!

-- Andy

<!--<TABLE BORDER="1" CLASS="CALSTABLE"> <COL><COL><COL> <THEAD> <TR>  
<TH>Backslash Escape Sequence</TH> <TH>Interpretation</TH> <TH>Notes</ 
TH> </TR> </THEAD> <TBODY> <TR> <TD><TT CLASS="TOKEN">\b</TT></TD>  
<TD>backspace</TD> <TD></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><TT CLASS="TOKEN">\f</TT></ 
TD> <TD>form feed</TD> <TD></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><TT CLASS="TOKEN">\n</ 
TT></TD> <TD>newline</TD> <TD></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><TT CLASS="TOKEN"> 
\r</TT></TD> <TD>carriage return</TD> <TD></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><TT  
CLASS="TOKEN">\t</TT></TD> <TD>tab</TD> <TD></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD> <TT  
CLASS="TOKEN">\<var>o</var></TT><br> <TT CLASS="TOKEN">\<var>oo</var></ 
TT><br> <TT CLASS="TOKEN">\<var>ooo</var></TT><br> </TD> <TD> octal  
byte value </TD> <TD> <var>o</var> = 0 - 7 </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD> <TT  
CLASS="TOKEN">\x<var>h</var></TT><br> <TT CLASS="TOKEN">\x<var>hh</ 
var></TT><br> </TD> <TD> hexadecimal byte value </TD> <TD> <var>h</ 
var> = 0 - F </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><TT CLASS="TOKEN">\</TT><var>a</ 
var></TD> <TD><var>a</var></TD> <TD><var>a</var> = any other  
character. Commonly used to include \ and '</TD> </TR> </TBODY> </ 
TABLE>-->