(bash.info) Escape Character

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 3.1.2.1 Escape Character
 ........................
 
 A non-quoted backslash `\' is the Bash escape character.  It preserves
 the literal value of the next character that follows, with the
 exception of `newline'.  If a `\newline' pair appears, and the
 backslash itself is not quoted, the `\newline' is treated as a line
 continuation (that is, it is removed from the input stream and
 effectively ignored).
 

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