If the user inputs a string containing an escape character (e.g. "Example\" or "C:\Users...), I want to accept it exactly as is. In other words, I'm trying to circumvent the Syntax error thrown when input like the above is processed.
I feel like it should be simple, but the answer eludes me. Any help?
EDIT: I'm on python 3
Don't use input(); use raw_input() instead when accepting string input.
input() (on Python 2) tries to interpret the input string as Python, raw_input() does not try to interpret the text at all, including not trying to interpret \ backslashes as escape sequences:
>>> raw_input('Please show me how this works: ')
Please show me how this works: This is \n how it works!
'This is \\n how it works!'
On Python 3, use just input() (which is Python 2's raw_input() renamed); unless you also use eval() it will not interpret escape codes:
>>> input('Please show me how this works: ')
Please show me how this works: This is \n how it works!
'This is \\n how it works!'