When you use alphabetic characters in your program

• The compiler considers them as numbers but converts each to its corresponding character following the ASCII list

Counting decimal values starting at 0, the first 32 characters actually do not display anything on the screen:

• They are called non-printing characters
  • They are obtained from pressing Ctrl and an alphabetic letter or a symbol

The exception is that the 8th to 12th characters are used to control some of the characters

• They are called escape sequences
  • To use one of these escape sequences, you include it preceded by a backslash; you can include both in single-quotes

For example, the \n

• Is used to ask the compiler to stop the line and start the remaining program to the next line; this is referred to Carriage Return – Line Feed
  • The \n escape sequence could be used as follows (A-1):

Example of (A-1)

#include <iostream>
 
using namespace std;
 
int main()
{
 
	cout << “Tokyo\nJapan\n”;
 
	return 0;
 
}

Besides the \n escape sequence

• You can also use the endl keyword to move the cursor to the next line

Here is the list of escape sequences: