android strings.xml Error: bad escape sequence in quantity string

android strings.xml Error: bad escape sequence in quantity string

TL;DR

Fixes the Android resource compile error when a plurals quantity string contains a bad escape. Use only supported escapes like newline and unicode in quantity strings. Use when aapt reports a bad escape in plurals. Not for apostrophe issues in plain strings.

The error

Error: bad escape sequence in quantity string at line 31 of values/strings.xml

Fix it

Step 1: Open the reported line

sed -n '28,34p' app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml

Expected: You see the quantity string with the bad escape.

Step 2: Replace it with a supported escape

node -e "console.log('use a newline escape or a unicode escape instead of the unsupported one')"

Expected: The quantity string uses only valid escapes.

Step 3: Rebuild resources

./gradlew assembleDebug | tail -3

Expected: The resource compile succeeds.

When to use this

• aapt reports a bad escape sequence in a quantity string
• A plurals entry was edited by hand

When NOT to use this

• The error is about apostrophes, escape those differently
• The string compiles but renders wrong, check the format arguments

Tool and version compatibility

• Android Gradle Plugin 8
• aapt2

Variant phrasings

error after a translator edited the file

Translators sometimes add literal backslashes. Validate XML escapes in TMS QA.

error only in one quantity form

Only the few or many entry has the bad escape. Check each form.

Why it happens

Android quantity strings go through a stricter escape parser than plain strings. An escape the parser does not recognize aborts resource compilation for the whole file.

Edge cases

• CDATA sections do not exempt quantity strings from escape rules
• Unicode escapes are the safest way to include special characters
• Lint does not catch this; only the aapt compile step does

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_kLWB1LQdsrOEqZ22kNafMA

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_kLWB1LQdsrOEqZ22kNafMA

Thread query: android strings.xml Error: bad escape sequence in quantity string

TL;DR: Fixes the Android resource compile error when a plurals quantity string contains a bad escape. Use only supported escapes like newline and unicode in quantity strings. Use when aapt reports a bad escape in plurals. Not for apostrophe issues in plain strings.