In [4]: import re
In [5]: print(re.escape('\n'))
\
In [6]: print(re.escape(r'\n'))
\\n
In [7]: print(r'\n')
\n
In [8]: print('\n')
In [9]: print('\\n')
\n
The third example print(r'\n') gives the output I want (also the last example).
BUT the string I want to print is a variable that was not defined as a raw string.
Needless to say I cannot manually add backslashes to the string.
Use repr() to print a value as Python code:
print(repr('\n'))
...will emit:
'\n'
If you want to strip leading and trailing characters, then:
print(repr('\n')[1:-1])
...will emit only
\n
...but this is not futureproof (some strings may be emitted with different quoting, if not today, then in future implementations; including the literal quotes in output is thus the safe option).
Note that in a format string, you can use the !r modifier to indicate that you want repr() applied:
print('Value: {!r}'.format('\n'))
...will emit:
Value: '\n'
print('wtf {}'.format(repr('\n'))) --> wtf '\n'
repr() to be applied. See edit.