# Text and string literals

[Syntax and values](README.md)

A **text literal** is text written directly between quotes in your source. An **escape sequence** starts with a backslash and lets you include special characters, such as a quote or newline. [Try the escape examples](../concepts/escape-sequences.md).

Text literals use double quotes and stay on one physical line:

```text
"Hello"
"Pliro 🐢"
""
```

Supported escapes are:

| Escape | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `\"` | Double quote |
| `\\` | Backslash |
| `\n` | Newline character |
| `\r` | Carriage return character |
| `\t` | Tab character inside the resulting text |

Unknown escapes are errors. Pliro does not currently have single-quoted, raw,
triple-quoted, multiline, interpolated, or `\u` escape syntax. Direct [Unicode](../concepts/unicode.md)
characters are allowed in source.

Text length, indexing, and iteration count [Unicode code points](../concepts/code-points.md) rather than UTF-8
bytes. Text values are [immutable](../concepts/mutation.md).

## Example

```pliro
# language: en
let label = "Pliro 🐢"
say label
say length(label)
```

## Related entries

[Syntax and values](README.md) · [Built-ins](../builtins/README.md) · [Programming guides](../guides/README.md)