title: Is there an equivalent of C#'s verbatim string literals in PHP?
body: <p>I know I can create a <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/362314fe.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">verbatim string literal</a> in C# by using the @ symbol. For example, the usual </p>
  
  <pre><code>String path = "C:\\MyDocs\\myText.txt";
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>can also be re-written as </p>
  
  <pre><code>String path = @"C:\MyDocs\myText.txt";
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In this way, the string literal isn't cluttered with escape characters and makes it much more readable. </p>
  
  <p>What I would like to know is whether PHP also has an equivalent or do I have to manually escape the string myself?</p>