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When I type in:

"\.00"

in a notebook, the frontend automatically converts it to:

" "

on the screen it seems like there is only a white space. When I type a boolean query after the previous, but using the space bar to enter the white space:

" "== " "

Mathematica returns

Syntax::tsntxi: ".00= " is incomplete; more input is needed.

What is the meaning of \.00 in a string in Mathematica?

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  • $\begingroup$ it should be ascii hex 00, which isNUL . I dont know the reason for that error. I think this has been asked before but its pretty hard to search for $\endgroup$ – george2079 Nov 29 '16 at 11:17
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    $\begingroup$ mathematica.stackexchange.com/q/102380/2079 $\endgroup$ – george2079 Nov 29 '16 at 11:24
  • $\begingroup$ \.xx is a way to specify a character by its code. The fact that this doesn't work in the front end feels like a bug ... In a terminal it works. If you want a string with a null character in it, try FromCharacterCode[{0}] as a workaround. If you want to type a \ in a string, remember to escape it, "\\". $\endgroup$ – Szabolcs Nov 29 '16 at 11:35