Multiline String literal syntax

Question

In many languages multiline String literal syntax is

"""
Hello
World
"""

But why it require a new syntax, why just not to use " instead of """ ?

Like:

"Hello
 World"

Have you _ever_ tried multiline syntax with a single double quote? You know what? It works! — Aleksei Matiushkin, Dec 01 '17 at 12:45
"Why do language designers feel the need to add different syntax for multi-line strings in several different languages?" is a great example of asking an overly broad question. — Onorio Catenacci, Dec 01 '17 at 14:02

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 01 '17 at 10:58

9

I think this is primarily to allow nested double quotes:

"""
Hello, "World"
"""

If " was used for multiline strings, then you had to escape nested quotes which is a bit inconvenient.

answered Dec 01 '17 at 10:58

ZhekaKozlov

But if I don't have nested double quotes? like in Rust https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29483365/what-is-the-syntax-for-a-multiline-string-literal#answer-29483453 – Sodiaan Dec 01 '17 at 12:35
1

@Sodiaan Are triple quotes a problem for you? You don't want to type? – ZhekaKozlov Dec 01 '17 at 12:39
Than why to have both, why not only triple quotes? – Sodiaan Dec 01 '17 at 12:50
2

@Sodiaan Single-line strings are much more frequent – ZhekaKozlov Dec 01 '17 at 14:43

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 01 '17 at 11:01

3

You can simply include formatted code like this:

val text = """
    for (c in "foo")
        print(c)
"""

or use special chars like " without the need to escape. It's very neat when it comes to JSON for example.

answered Dec 01 '17 at 11:01

s1m0nw1

2 Answers2