' \ '-Invalid character constant?

Question

I need to do this:

while (result2.charAt(j) != '\'){
    
}

I get an error saying: Invalid character constant.

Why? And how can I get over it?

Answer 1

The backslash is a special character and it needs to be escaped with another backslash. Like this:

while (result2.charAt(j)!='\\'){

}

Answer 2

Use '\\'. It's because backslash is used in escape sequence like '\n'. With a single \ the compiler have no way to know.