backslashing
- 1Present participle of backslash.
The script kept failing until he started backslashing the special characters in the path.
Backslashing every metacharacter by hand quickly becomes tedious in long patterns.
Note
A programmer's -ing form, and a transitive one: you backslash a character, so the gerund usually takes an object too, as in backslashing the quotes. The verb grew from the name of the mark \, and it means escaping a metacharacter by putting that mark in front of it. Keep it distinct from the forward slash /. Calling that mark a backslash is a proscribed slip, and backslashing never means typing one.
backslashing is a form of backslash
backslash, verb: To escape a metacharacter by placing a backslash before it, turning the pair into an escape sequence the parser reads literally. Full entry
- Forms
- backslashbackslashes he/she/itbackslashing -ing formbackslashed past tense, past participle
- Spelling
- backslash → backslashing: add -ing
Use it in a sentence
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