Basic question

[Chris]

On Feb 13, 2:22 pm, "WILLIAM SCHMIDT" <WSCHM... at colsa.com> wrote:
> In several places in the Python documentation I have run across an extra "r" that I can not explain:
>
> *****************************
> In sys.path after the open bracket:
>        sys.path = [r'd:\temp']
>
> In the on line help in the DATA section (towards the end):
>
> >>> help('sys')
>
> Help on built-in module sys:
>
> ~~~~  truncated ~~~~
>
> DATA
>     exec_prefix = r'C:\Python25'
>     executable = r'C:\Python25\pythonw.exe'
>     path = [r'C:\Python25\Lib\idlelib', r'C:\Python25\python25.zip', r'C:\...
>     prefix = r'C:\Python25'
>     version = '2.5.1 (r251:54863, Apr 18 2007, 08:51:08) [MSC v.1310 32 bi...
> *****************************
>
> Can someone explain what that "r" is doing and where I would find it in the documentation?
>
> Thank you in advance for your assistance.
>
> William T. Schmidt

It means it is a raw string, useful so you do not need to escape
special characters.