Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition

Escape sequences

Within string and regular-expression constants, the following escape sequences may be used.

Sequence	Meaning	Sequence	Meaning
\a	Alert (bell)	\v	Vertical tab
\b	Backspace	\\	Literal backslash
\f	Form feed	\nnn	Octal value nnn
\n	Newline	\xnn	Hexadecimal value nn
\r	Carriage return	\”	Literal double quote (in strings)
\t	Tab	\/	Literal slash (in regular expressions)

Tip

The \x escape sequence is a common extension; it is not part of POSIX awk