Escape Sequences and Comments in C

Lines and Comments in C: An Overview

Lines in C

This is because to insert a new line, \n is used in C.

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
 printf("Hello, World!\n");
 printf("This is my first program");
 return 0;
}

Output

Hello, World!
This is my first program

• If you want to print multiple lines with the help of a single printf(), you can do so like this in the C Compiler

  
  #include <stdio.h>
  int main() {
   printf("Hello, World!\nThis is my first program.\nI have started programming");
   return 0;
  }
  

  Run Code >>

  Every \nindicates a new line

  Output

  Hello, World!
  This is my first program.
  I have started programming
  

• If you want to give spacing between the lines, you can use simultaneous \n like this

  
  #include <stdio.h>
  
  int main() {
   printf("Hello, World!\n\n");
   printf("This is my first program");
   return 0;
  }
  

  Run Code >>

  Output

  Hello, World!
  
  This is my first program
  

Read More - Top 50 Mostly Asked C Interview Questions and Answers

Escape Sequences

• one of the important characteristic features of C
• enable the inclusion of special characters and control patterns in strings and character constants that cannot be represented directly.

Syntax

(backlash)\ character to represent a special character

• Some important escape sequences

  Escape Sequence	Meaning
  \a	Alarm or Beep
  \b	Backspace
  \f	Form Feed
  \n	New Line
  \r	Carriage Return
  \t	Tab (Horizontal)
  \v	Vertical Tab
  \\	Backslash
  \'	Single Quote
  \"	Double Quote
  \?	Question Mark
  \nnn	octal number
  \xhh	hexadecimal number
  \0	Null

Comments in C

Comments are used for these purposes.

• It increases the readability of your code.
• It makes you understand what the program is all about without going through the source code.
• Not necessary to include it while writing the program but a good practice
• Does not affect your program compilation or execution

Two Types of Comments in C

1. Single line comment

Example

//Program to print hello world
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
 printf("Hello, World!"); //Statement to be printed
 return 0;
}

Here, you can see that one comment is used to describe the heading of the program in the C Editor. The other one is used at the end of the printf statement. It describes the output on the output screen. Thus it enhances the readability of this code.

Output

Hello, World!

You can see that the comment does not affect the output.

2. Multi-line comment

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
 /* This is the first program
 in the C language */
 printf("Hello, World!"); //Statement to be printed
 return 0;
}

Hello, World!