title: How do I format a single backslash in common lisp?
body: <p>I'm currently trying to get an output of <code>... \hline</code> in GNU Common lisp 2.49, but I can't get the format to work. This is what I've tried so far to get a single backslash:</p>
  
  <pre><code>(format nil "\ ") =&gt; " "
  (format nil "\\ ") =&gt; "\\ "
  (format nil "\\\ ") =&gt; "\\ "
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I thought that the double backslash would make it work, why isn't the backslash escaping just the other backslash?</p>