R help - Oct 2001 - Strange behavior with saved character vectors containing a slash

I am seeing some strange behavior using save on a character vector containing a
slash. If this is a bug, I will happily submit it (as a single entry! ;-) ) to
r-bugs. Here is an example involving "VIA\B".
> version
         _                   
platform sparc-sun-solaris2.6
arch     sparc               
os       solaris2.6          
system   sparc, solaris2.6   
status                       
major    1                   
minor    3.0                 
year     2001                
month    06                  
day      22                  
language R                   
> ls()
character(0)
> test <- "VIA\\B"	# I proceed the \ with another to escape it.
> cat(test, "\n")
VIA\B			# This is how the string should look.
> save(test, ascii = TRUE, file = "here")
> remove(list = ls())
> ls()
character(0)
> load("here")
> ls()
[1] "test"
> cat(test, "\n")
VIAB		# This is not how the string should look! Where did the \ go?
 
> unlink("here")
Any insights would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Dave Kane
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"David Kane  <David Kane" <a296180 at mica.fmr.com> writes:
> I am seeing some strange behavior using save on a character vector
containing a
> slash. If this is a bug, I will happily submit it (as a single entry! ;-) )
to
> r-bugs. Here is an example involving "VIA\B".
> 
It's a bug alright. In saveload.c we have

        if (x[i] <= 32 || x[i] > 126) {
            switch(x[i]) {
            case '\n': fprintf(fp, "\\n");  break;
            case '\t': fprintf(fp, "\\t");  break;
            case '\v': fprintf(fp, "\\v");  break;
            case '\b': fprintf(fp, "\\b");  break;
            case '\r': fprintf(fp, "\\r");  break;
            case '\f': fprintf(fp, "\\f");  break;
            case '\a': fprintf(fp, "\\a");  break;
            case '\\': fprintf(fp, "\\\\"); break;
            case '\?': fprintf(fp, "\\?");  break;
            case '\'': fprintf(fp, "\\'");  break;
            case '\"': fprintf(fp, "\\\""); break;
                /* cannot print char in octal mode -> cast to unsigned
                   char first */
            default  : fprintf(fp, "\\%03o", (unsigned char) x[i]);
break;
            }
        }

Which *looks* like it handles the backslash, but doesn't....
-- 
   O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             Blegdamsvej 3  
  c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     2200 Cph. N   
 (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen   Denmark      Ph: (+45) 35327918
~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk)             FAX: (+45) 35327907
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