Escape special characters in reStructuredText Sphinx

Question

For my documentation, I want escape special characters.

Example :

.. code-block:: terminal

    $ php bin/console test:user

    Press <return> for continue

For Sphinx, it's an external URL <return> and I want escape that.

Screenshot :

Answer 1

See Escaping Mechanism:

A backslash followed by any character (except whitespace characters in non-URI contexts) escapes that character. The escaped character represents the character itself, and is prevented from playing a role in any markup interpretation. The backslash is removed from the output.

To answer your question, you can use various markup techniques.

Escape the opening and closing brackets.

Press \<return\> for continue

Use inline literal markup.

Press ``<return>`` for continue

Use semantic markup with the kbd role:

Press :kbd:`<return>` for continue

IMO, the last option is the most appropriate for this situation. The first option is the least appropriate.