New: Escape character support for Strings

[Anobium]

New: String Escape Sequences

Overview

String literals in GCBASIC source now support escape sequences, allowing arbitrary
byte values to be embedded directly in strings without workarounds. This new capability removes the need to use CHR() which is expensive in terms of RAM.

From build 1603.

Supported Sequences

Sequence	Value	Example
\xNN	Hex byte, exactly 2 digits (0-9, A-F)	\xDC → Chr(220)
\0xNN	Hex byte, exactly 2 digits (0-9, A-F)	\0x1F → Chr(31)
\NNN	Decimal byte, exactly 3 digits (0-9)	\223 → Chr(223)
\r	Carriage return	Chr(13)
\n	Newline	Chr(10)
\t	Tab	Chr(9)
\\	Literal backslash	Chr(92)
\"	Literal double-quote	Chr(34)

Rules

• Hex digits must be uppercase or lowercase A-F; exactly 2 are required.
• Decimal values must be exactly 3 digits and in the range 000-255.
• An unrecognised escape sequence produces a compile-time error with file and line number.

Example

tmpstring = "\223C\\"

Produces a 3-byte string: Chr(223), C, \ — stored in the string table as:

StringTable2:
.DB  3, 223, 67, 92

Risk

Backslashes in existing string literals will be interpreted as escape sequences.
Code such as "C:\Users\temp" or any string containing \n, \t, or \\
will silently change meaning or produce a compile error.

It is recommended to audit existing source files for strings containing \ and change to \\

[Anobium]

The impact of this change ... save 42 bytes of RAM! Plus a tweak to the DS18B20 library saves even more RAM.

I spotted this yesterday and thought why not implement escape characters and avoid using CHR()

Enjoy

#chip mega8
#include <ds18b20.h>

HI2CMode Master
#define HI2C_DATA
#define LCD_IO 10
#DEFINE LCD_I2C_ADDRESS 0x3F

#define LCD_Backlight_On_State  1  


LCDBacklight On 

#define DQ PC3


 do forever

        ReadDigitalTemp

        cls
        print "Temp"
        locate 0,8
        print DSInt
        print "."
        print DSdec
        // was print Chr(223)+"C"
        print "\223C"
        wait 200 ms

    loop

/*
Compiling: I2C_1602.gcb
Program compiled successfully (Compile time: 1.75 seconds)

Summary:
Compiled:
Program lines: 183
Subroutines: User: 0 ; System: 34 of 495 ; Total: 34
Chip resource usage:
Program Memory: 1546/4096 words (37.74%)
RAM: 124/1024 bytes (12.11%)
OSC: 16Mhz

now

GCBASIC (2026.06.17 (Windows 64 bit) : Build 1602)

Compiling: I2C_1602.gcb
Program compiled successfully (Compile time: 1.75 seconds)

Summary:
Compiled:
Program lines: 183
Subroutines: User: 0 ; System: 32 of 495 ; Total: 32
Chip resource usage:
Program Memory: 1506/4096 words (36.77%)
RAM: 47/1024 bytes (4.59%)
OSC: 16Mhz