Step 1: Determine the UTF-8 encoding bit layout
The character \ has the Unicode code point U+005C. In UTF-8, it is encoded using 1 byte because its codepoint is in the range of
0x0000to0x007f.
Therefore we know that the UTF-8 encoding will be done over 7 bits within the final 8 bits and that it will have the format:0xxxxxxx
Where thexare the payload bits.UTF-8 Encoding bit layout by codepoint range Codepoint Range Bytes Bit pattern Payload length U+0000 - U+007F 1 0xxxxxxx 7 bits U+0080 - U+07FF 2 110xxxxx 10xxxxxx 11 bits U+0800 - U+FFFF 3 1110xxxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx 16 bits U+10000 - U+10FFFF 4 11110xxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx 21 bits Step 2: Obtain the payload bits:
Convert the hexadecimal code point U+005C to binary:
01011100. Those are the payload bits.Step 3: Fill in the bits to match the bit pattern:
Obtain the final bytes by arranging the paylod bits to match the bit layout:
01011100
REVERSE SOLIDUS·U+005C
\
Character Information
Code Point
U+005C
HEX
005C
Unicode Plane
Basic Multilingual Plane
Category
Other Punctuation
Character Representations
Click elements to copy| Encoding | Hex | Binary |
|---|---|---|
| UTF8 | 5C | 01011100 |
| UTF16 (big Endian) | 00 5C | 00000000 01011100 |
| UTF16 (little Endian) | 5C 00 | 01011100 00000000 |
| UTF32 (big Endian) | 00 00 00 5C | 00000000 00000000 00000000 01011100 |
| UTF32 (little Endian) | 5C 00 00 00 | 01011100 00000000 00000000 00000000 |
HTML Entity
\
URI Encoded
%5C
Description
The Unicode character U+005C, commonly known as the REVERSE SOLIDUS (backslash) (\), plays a pivotal role in digital text, particularly within programming languages and data storage formats. Serving as an escape character, it introduces special or control characters that might otherwise be misinterpreted by the system. This character is indispensable in numerous programming languages such as C, Java, Python, JavaScript, and many others. In file path representations across various operating systems, the backslash (\) is essential, with a double backslash (\\) used to escape a single backslash within strings. The backslash itself has no cultural or linguistic significance, but its technical importance in digital communication is undeniable. This character belongs to the Basic Latin Unicode block (0-127), which forms the foundation of many other Unicode blocks due to its inclusion of common characters essential for cross-platform and device communication. Although rooted historically in the ASCII character set, the Basic Latin Unicode block has evolved to cater to modern needs and continues to be a vital component of digital communication.
How to type the \ symbol on Windows
Hold Alt and type 0092 on the numpad. Or use Character Map.