ESCAPE_BACKSLASH= LIBNAME Statement Option

Specifies whether backslashes in literals are preserved during data copy from a SAS data set to a table.

Valid in: SAS/ACCESS LIBNAME statement
Category: Data Set Control
Default: NO
Data source: MySQL
See: ESCAPE_BACKSLASH= data set option

Table of Contents

Syntax

ESCAPE_BACKSLASH=YES | NO

Syntax Description

YES

specifies that an additional backslash is inserted in every literal value that already contains a backslash.

NO

specifies that backslashes that exist in literal values are not preserved. An error results.

Details

MySQL uses the backslash as an escape character. When data that is copied from a SAS data set to a MySQL table contains backslashes in literal values, the MySQL interface can preserve these if ESCAPE_BACKSLASH=YES.

Last updated: February 3, 2026