The python language reference says: " Unlike Standard C, all unrecognized escape sequences are left in the string unchanged, i.e., /the backslash is left in the string/. (This behavior is useful when debugging: if an escape sequence is mistyped, the resulting output is more easily recognized as broken.)" It seems to me that a syntax error of some kind would be even more useful. For instance if one is dealing with an extremely large output they might be able to miss a single missing \t or \n. Another problem is some beginners seem to be very confused between print '\n' and print '\l' Also, what happens when people perhaps want '\l' and instead of using '\\l' type '\l' by accident, and their output looks fine, but later down the road it is decided '\l' should be an escape sequence. Is there a very good reason for this behavior?