String constants, also known as string literals, are a special type of constants which store fixed sequences of characters. A string literal is a sequence of any number of characters surrounded by double quotes:

"This is a string."

The null string, or empty string, is written like "". A literal string is stored internally as a given sequence of characters plus a final null character. A null string is stored as a single null character.

The characters inside the double quotes can include escape sequences. This code, for example:

"\t\"Name\"\\\tAddress\n\n"

prints like this:

	"Name"\	Address

The "Name" is preceded by two tabs; The Address is preceded by one tab. The line is followed by two new lines. The \" provides interior double quotes. The escape character sequence \\ is translated into \ by the compiler.

Adjacent string literals separated only by whitespace are concatenated during the parsing phase. For example:

"This is "  "just"
    " an example."

is equivalent to

"This is just an example."

Line Continuation with Backslash

You can also use the backslash (\) as a continuation character to extend a string constant across line boundaries:

"This is really \
        a one-line string."

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