String literals in MAXScript are one or more characters enclosed in double quotes:

   "3ds Max"
   "August 4th, 1997"

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:

ESCAPE SEQUENCE	MEANING
\"	a double quote character
\n	a newline character
\r	a carriage return character
\t	a TAB character
\*	an asterisk character
\?	a question mark character
\\	a single "\" character
\%	a percent character
\x{d}	a hexadecimal character

EXAMPLE

   print "foo should be quoted like this: \"foo\" and a new line: \n"

would output:

   "foo should be quoted like this: "foo" and a new line:
   "

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.

FOR EXAMPLE

   "Twas brillig and the slithy tobes
   did gyre and gimbol in the wabe
   or something like that..."

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:

\x{<hex_digit>}+ -- <hex_digit> is a hexadecimal digit (0-9,a-f)

EXAMPLE

   str = "Copyright \xa9 1997, FrabWorks, Inc"

would insert a copyright sign ©. Hexadecimal a9 is the code for that symbol.

Running the following script displays in Listener the characters associated with each hexadecimal code:

EXAMPLE

   char= "0123456789abcdef"
   for i=1 to char.count do
   for j=1 to char.count do
   (
       s=execute("\"\\x"+char[i]+char[j]+"\"")
       format "%% %\n" char[i] char[j] s
   )

File Path Name Strings

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)

AN EXAMPLE IS:

   scene_path = "g:\\3dsmax25\\scenes" -- specifies file path g:\3dsmax25\scenes

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.

AN EXAMPLE IS:

   scene_path = "g:/3dsmax25/scenes" -- specifies file path g:\3dsmax25\scenes

Verbatim String Literals

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'.

The syntax is

@"{<character>}+"

FOR EXAMPLE,

   --the following verbatim string remains unchanged after evaluation:
   thePath = @"g:\temp\newfolder\render"

   "g:\temp\newfolder\render"

   --while the following results in a
   --scrambled string with tabs and new lines:
   thePath = "g:\temp\newfolder\render"

   "g: emp
   ewfolder
   ender"