How is a raw string useful in Python?

Question

I know the raw string operator r or R suppresses the meaning of escape characters but in what situation would this really be helpful?

Answer 1

Raw strings are commonly used for regular expressions which need to include backslashes.

re.match(r'\b(\w)+', string)  # instead of re.match('(\\w)+', string

They are also useful for DOS file paths, which would otherwise have to double up every path separator.

path = r'C:\some\dir'  # instead of 'C:\\some\\dir'

Answer 2

They save you from the leaning toothpick syndrome.

the situation in which a quoted expression becomes unreadable because it contains a large number of escape characters, usually backslashes ("\")