• excral@feddit.org
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    7 hours ago

    Because the backslash is an escape character:

    1. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ -> ¯_(ツ)_/¯
    2. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ -> ¯\(ツ)
    3. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯ -> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    Explanation:

    1. the backslash is used to escape the underscore.
    2. the first backslash escapes the second backslash, so it’s shown as a backslash. The pair of underscores is used to display the characters between in italics
    3. both the backslash and the first underscore are escaped, everything finally works