40.2.1.3 Backslash Substitution

Backslash substitution is performed whenever the interpreter comes across a backslash. The backslash is an escape character and when it is encountered is causes the interpreter to handle the next characters specially. Commonly escaped characters are `\a' for audible bell, `\b' for backspace, `\f' for form feed, `\n' for newline, `\r' for carriage return, `\t' for horizontal tab, and `\v' for vertical tab. Double-backslash, `\\', is substituted with a single backslash. Other special backslash substitutions have the following forms:

Any other character that is backslash escaped is simply substituted by the character itself. For example, \W is replaced by W.