CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonimportbackslash
fedorqui
fedorqui

Reputation: 289725

What is the purpose of a backslash at the end of a line?

Just found the following module import in a Python code:

from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base,\
      AbstractConcreteBase

I am curious about the backslash \ at the end of the first line. What's the purpose of it? Wouldn't it be the same as the following?

from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base, AbstractConcreteBase

Upvotes: 28

Views: 7549

Answers (2)

Mallareddy kartheek
Mallareddy kartheek

Reputation: 11

In the context of line-oriented text, especially source code for some programming languages, it is often used at the end of a line to indicate that the trailing newline character should be ignored, so that the following line is treated as if it were part of the current line.

Upvotes: 1

Pavel Anossov
Pavel Anossov

Reputation: 62908

Yep, it's exactly the same and this is the point of the backslash — it escapes the newline, allowing this long line to be split in two. An alternative is to use parentheses:

from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import (declarative_base,
      AbstractConcreteBase)

While this is a syntax error:

from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base,
      AbstractConcreteBase

Upvotes: 34

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