Whole document tree

Python Reference Manual

Previous: 2.1.3 Comments Up: 2.1 Line structure Next: 2.1.5 Implicit line joining

---

  
2.1.4 Explicit line joining

Two or more physical lines may be joined into logical lines using backslash characters (\), as follows: when a physical line ends in a backslash that is not part of a string literal or comment, it is joined with the following forming a single logical line, deleting the backslash and the following end-of-line character. For example:

if 1900 < year < 2100 and 1 <= month <= 12 \
   and 1 <= day <= 31 and 0 <= hour < 24 \
   and 0 <= minute < 60 and 0 <= second < 60:   # Looks like a valid date
        return 1

A line ending in a backslash cannot carry a comment. A backslash does not continue a comment. A backslash does not continue a token except for string literals (i.e., tokens other than string literals cannot be split across physical lines using a backslash). A backslash is illegal elsewhere on a line outside a string literal.

---

Python Reference Manual

Previous: 2.1.3 Comments Up: 2.1 Line structure Next: 2.1.5 Implicit line joining

---

Release 2.1.3, documentation updated on April 8, 2002.