Can I get a technical explanation on the following error

[Rhodri James]

On Sun, 24 May 2009 21:14:44 +0100, grocery_stocker <cdalten at gmail.com>  
wrote:

> On May 24, 11:47 am, Hans Müller <heint... at web.de> wrote:
>> Try this:
>>
>> print "\\"
>>
>> \ is the escape character, it masks the meaning of the next chararcter.
>>
>> If you write print "\" python tries to print " (the meaning of " as
>> the string delimiter is beeing masked) and finds no closing "
>> This is why you got the error.
>>
>
> So something like
>
> "\"
>
> changes the meaning of " ? How? Does it just shift the ASCII bit(s)?

No.  There is a fixed set of "escape sequences" as they're called.
The Fine Manual lists them here:

http://docs.python.org/reference/lexical_analysis.html#literals

-- 
Rhodri James *-* Wildebeeste Herder to the Masses