[VELOCITY-587] Backslashes throw lexical errors in double-quoted strings

• Type: Bug
• Status: Resolved
• Priority: Minor
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 1.6
• Fix Version/s: 1.6
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Jon Seymour
• Created: 11/Feb/08 04:41
• Updated: 03/Jan/10 15:10
• Resolved: 24/Sep/08 21:06

Description

The VTL doesn't currently provide a way to express strings containing a single backslash ()

#set($backslash="\")

results in a lexical error during template parsing.

#set($backslash="
")

results in $backslash being assigned a string containing two backslashes (
)

It appears the only workaround available now is to construct a variable containing just a single backslash with this idiom:

#set($twobackslashes="
")
#set($backslash=$twobackslashes.substring(0,1))

Even if this can't be fixed in the parser, the documentation should be updated to define a preferred idiom for obtaining a string containing a single backslash.

jon.

note: this issue partially duplicates a comment by Guido Deinhammer on issue #454 regarding other escaping issues. I have raised a separate issue, so that this one can be addressed separately, if desired.

Issue Links

• relates to: VELOCITY-709 String literal "\\" parses incorrectly