do you know that a string with the letter "r" in front doesn't escape slashes? it's intended for regular expressions, but would simplify things for you here too.
just do a=r'c:\\Program Files\test' andrew bvdp wrote: > > I'm getting hopelessly lost in a series of \\\\\\\ s :) > > Let's see if this makes sense: > > >>> a='c:\\Program Files\\test' > >>> a.decode('string-escape') > 'c:\\Program Files\test' > > In this case there are still 2 '\'s before the P; but only 1 before the > 't'. Now, when it comes time to open the file windows accepts double > '\'s in the filename. So, life is fine. But, the essential part here is > that we're lucky we can use '\\' or '\' in a path. What if this wasn't > true? > > The following shows a bit of difference: > > >>> a='c:\Program Files\test' > >>> a > 'c:\\Program Files\test' > > In this case the interpreter has changed the '\P' to '\\P'. And if one > lists the string the '\t' really is a tab. No decode() at all in any of > this. > > I guess the general rule would be to double up '\'s in filenames and (in > my program's case) to use the \x20 for spaces. > > Thanks. > -- > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list > > -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list