What does \ mean in JSON?

In JSON, the backslash (\) is an escape character used to include special characters within strings. A triple backslash (\\\) in your source code becomes a single backslash in the actual JSON string after parsing. This happens because the backslash itself must be escaped. Common escape sequences include \" for quotes, \\ for backslashes, \n for newlines, and \t for tabs. When you want to include a literal backslash in your JSON string, you write it as \\. If you see \\\, it typically means someone is escaping an already-escaped backslash, often occurring in nested serialization or when passing JSON as a string. Use our JSON Formatter at jsonconsole.com/json-formatter to properly visualize and handle escaped characters. The formatter shows the actual structure and helps identify escaping issues in complex JSON data.