String literals in MAXScript are one or more characters enclosed in double quotes:
String literals can contain any character except another plain double quote. You can include a double quote in a string literal, as well as some useful control characters, by using a "\" (backslash) escape character sequence.
The valid escape sequences are:
A "\" character that does not preface one of the specified characters is left as a single backslash.
You can break a string literal into several lines and the line breaks will stay in the string.
Non-Printing Characters in Strings
You can specify non-printing characters in string literals using the \x hexadecimal escape sequence convention from C/C++. The form is:
Running the following script displays in Listener the characters associated with each hexadecimal code:
File path name strings use the backslash character to separate a parent directory from its sub-directory. The backslash is used as an escape character, therefore file path names specified in a string should use the escape character sequence for a single "\" character, i.e., "\\", or specify the string as verbatim using the @ character introduced in 3ds Max 2008 (see further on this page)
For strings that are used as file names or paths, the "/" character can be used instead of the "\\". MAXScript internally interprets the "/" character as a "\" character when used in a file path name string.
Verbatim string literals added to MAXScript in 3ds Max 2008 are prefixed by the '@' character and are NOT expanded even if containing backslash escape character sequences like '\t', '\n' or '\r'.