itself, or the quote character.
String literals may optionally be prefixed with a letter ``'r'`` or ``'R'``;
-such strings are called :dfn:`raw strings` and use different rules for
-interpreting backslash escape sequences.
+such strings are called :dfn:`raw strings` and treat backslashes as literal
+characters. As a result, ``'\U'`` and ``'\u'`` escapes in raw strings are not
+treated specially.
Bytes literals are always prefixed with ``'b'`` or ``'B'``; they produce an
instance of the :class:`bytes` type instead of the :class:`str` type. They
escape sequences only recognized in string literals fall into the category of
unrecognized escapes for bytes literals.
-When an ``'r'`` or ``'R'`` prefix is used in a string literal, then the
-``\uXXXX`` and ``\UXXXXXXXX`` escape sequences are processed while *all other
-backslashes are left in the string*. For example, the string literal
-``r"\u0062\n"`` consists of three Unicode characters: 'LATIN SMALL LETTER B',
-'REVERSE SOLIDUS', and 'LATIN SMALL LETTER N'. Backslashes can be escaped with a
-preceding backslash; however, both remain in the string. As a result,
-``\uXXXX`` escape sequences are only recognized when there is an odd number of
-backslashes.
-
Even in a raw string, string quotes can be escaped with a backslash, but the
backslash remains in the string; for example, ``r"\""`` is a valid string
literal consisting of two characters: a backslash and a double quote; ``r"\"``
explicitly convert between them, using the :meth:`str.encode` (str -> bytes)
or :meth:`bytes.decode` (bytes -> str) methods.
+* All backslashes in raw strings are interpreted literally. This means that
+ Unicode escapes are not treated specially.
+
.. XXX add bytearray
* PEP 3112: Bytes literals, e.g. ``b"abc"``, create :class:`bytes` instances.
* The :mod:`StringIO` and :mod:`cStringIO` modules are gone. Instead, import
:class:`io.StringIO` or :class:`io.BytesIO`.
+* ``'\U'`` and ``'\u'`` escapes in raw strings are not treated specially.
+
PEP 3101: A New Approach to String Formatting
=============================================
through as unmodified as possible; as a consequence, the C API
related to command line arguments was changed to use wchar_t.
+- All backslashes in raw strings are interpreted literally. This means that
+ '\u' and '\U' escapes are not treated specially.
+
Extension Modules
-----------------