title: reading windows paths in properties file
body: <p>I am reading windows file paths from a properties file in Java. I do really need my program to handle unscaped paths, but so far I cannot see how to do it.</p>
  
  <p>The properties key-value:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>file.path = C:\directory</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>The code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Properties properties = new Properties();
  properties.load("filename.properties");
  properties.getProperty("file.path");
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The undesired result:</p>
  
  <pre><code>C:directory
  </code></pre>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>UPDATE: Duplicate question <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5784895/java-properties-backslash">stackoverflow.com/questions/5784895/java-properties-backslash</a></p>