why is this verbatim string not working as I expect for a unit test assert and showing a strange value in debugger?

Question

QUESTION: Why does the debugger show "directagents\a\aanodide" instead of the value of the verbatim string @"directagents\aanodide".

UPDATE This seems to be a ReSharper quirk. To Reproduce:

1. Enter a literal string with a "\a" in it.
2. Apply the refactor "Change to Verbatim Sring"
   • "\a" becomes invisible in th verbatim string
   • "\a" is not really gone.

More evidence from immediate window showing Hand Typed VS. Copy/Paste.

Answer 1

The debugger doesn't know that you use the compiler verbatim style to create the string. It just displays the string using the most common representation which isn't verbatim.

A verbatim string, besides accepting new line, also doesn't recognizes escape sequences so \a which is a bell character ends up as two characters in one case and as one character when not using the verbatim style.

You can lookup the reference for C# string literals here.