What is the expected output of the following code? x = ' '\nprint(len(x))

Question

Options

• AThe code is erroneous.
• B2
• C3
• D1

• A
  73% (35)
• B
  15% (7)
• C
  8% (4)
• D
  4% (2)

Explanation

Option A is correct because the \n in x = ' '\nprint(len(x)) appears as literal characters (backslash + n) outside the string, not as a real newline that separates two statements. Python cannot parse \n as a valid statement separator on a single line - only a semicolon (;) or an actual newline in the source file can do that - so the interpreter raises a SyntaxError before anything executes.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• D (1) is tempting because ' ' is a single space and len(' ') does equal 1 - but the code never runs successfully enough to produce that output.
• B (2) would be correct if the string were ' \n' (space + newline inside the quotes, two characters), but the \n here is outside the string.
• C (3) has no logical basis under any interpretation of this code.

Memory tip: When you see \n inside quotes it's a newline character (counts as 1 in len); when you see it outside quotes in source code, it's not a legal statement separator - only a real line break or ; can split statements.

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