When writing file paths in C#, I found that I can either write something like "C:\" or "C:/" and get the same path. Which one is recommended? I heard somewhere that using a single / was more recommended than using \ (with \ as an escaped sequence).
5 Answers
Windows supports both path separators, so both will work, at least for local paths (/ won't work for network paths). The thing is that there is no actual benefit of using the working but non standard path separator (/) on Windows, especially because you can use the verbatim string literal:
string path = @"C:\" //Look ma, no escape
The only case where I could see a benefit of using the / separator is when you'll work with relative paths only and will use the code in Windows and Linux. Then you can have "../foo/bar/baz" point to the same directory. But even in this case is better to leave the System.IO namespace (Path.DirectorySeparatorChar, Path.Combine) to take care of such issues.
I write paths in C# like this:
@"C:\My\Path"
The @ character turns off \ escaping.
EDIT a decade later
.NET now runs on Linux. Use Path.Combine() where feasible, otherwise use Path.DirectorySeparatorChar to construct a path with \ or / as appropriate to the underlying OS.
This isn't a C# issue - it's a Windows issue. Paths in Windows are normally shown with a backslash: C:. In my opinion, that's what you should use in C#. Use @"C:\" to prevent special handling of backslaash characters.
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