Could we add \a as an escape sequence for bell?

[David Alayachew]

Ah, I misread the JLS Language Grammar!

I was aware of \u0007, but not \7. I see now that that works. Then
nevermind, that meets my needs just fine. No need for my suggestion.

The 4 digit unicode is fine, a good escape hatch, but also easy to forget,
since my brain interprets all 4 digits as significant. And char bell = 7;
is also unideal. But a 1 digit escape works perfectly for me. Would have
preferred \a, but \7 is more explicit and easier to look up.

Ty vm!

On Mon, Oct 27, 2025, 6:15 AM Andrew Dinn <adinn at redhat.com> wrote:

>
>
> On 26/10/2025 17:26, David Alayachew wrote:
> > Also, here is the JLS 25 entry about escape sequences -- https://
> > docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se25/html/jls-3.html#jls-3.10.7
> > <
> https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se25/html/jls-3.html#jls-3.10.7>
> >
> > All I really want is for that to be added to the list, so that I can do
> > it the same as I would in other languages. It sounds like an in-place
> > replacement done by the compiler.
>
> What is wrong with using \u0007 or \7? (as documented in the html page
> you cited).
>
> regards,
>
>
> Andrew Dinn
> -----------
> Red Hat Distinguished Engineer
> He/Him/His
> IBM UK Limited
> Registered in England and Wales with number 741598
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>
>
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