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

Question

x = '\\\'
print(len(x))

Options

• A4
• BThe code is erroneous.
• C2
• D1

• A
  13% (8)
• B
  7% (4)
• C
  77% (46)
• D
  3% (2)

Explanation

Option C is correct because Python processes escape sequences before creating the string object: \\ collapses to a single backslash \, and \' collapses to a single quote ', yielding a two-character string \' at runtime - so len(x) returns 2.

Option A (4) is a classic trap - it counts the raw source characters between the delimiters (\, \, \, ') instead of the resolved characters after escape processing. Option B (erroneous) tempts those who misread the quote structure, but the final ' in '\\\'' acts as the closing delimiter because \\ already consumed the first two backslashes, making the string syntactically valid. Option D (1) partially applies the rules - it correctly reduces \\ to one backslash but forgets that the \' following it also collapses to one character.

Memory tip: Think of each escape pair (\\, \', \n, etc.) as a 2-for-1 coupon - two source characters buy you exactly one runtime character. Count the coupons, not the raw characters.

No community discussion yet for this question.