28.1.1.3 Escaping special characters in macro definitions

Use a backslash in a macro to escape other characters, such as “\”, “<”, “>”, “"”, “$”, “;” and “ ” (space). For example, if you need to start a macro content line with “[” or “;” (left bracket or semicolon), preface the line with a backslash, to keep the line from being treated as a comment or section head:

[MyMacro]

\; This is not a configuration-file comment

; This is a configuration-file comment

\[NotTheNextSection]

[TheNextSection]

To specify a trailing space at the end of a macro, insert any of the following:

two spaces

\  (a backslash followed by a space)

\~ (a backslash followed by a tilde).

The \~ convention is especially helpful, because it allows you to show that a space is unequivocally intended.

Make sure to escape the backslash itself if your macro includes path names. For example:

[MyGraphicFileCopy]

cd <$$_currpath>\\wrap

copy "c:\\my graphics\\*.jpg"

copy "c:\\more graphics\\*.jpg"

To include a comment in macro definitions, see §28.1.1.5 Including comments in macro definitions.

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