title: Entering Directories as Strings in python
body: <p>I have a list of directories hard coded into my program as such:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import os
  my_dirs = ["C:\a\foo"
            ,"C:\b\foo"
            ,"C:\c\foo"
            ,"C:\t\foo"
            ]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I later want to perform some operation like <code>os.path.isfile(my_dirs[3])</code>.  But the string my_dirs[3] is becoming messed up because <code>"\t"</code> is short for tab or something.</p>
  
  <p>I know that a solution to this would be to use this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>my_dirs = ["C:\\a\\foo"
            ,"C:\\b\\foo"
            ,"C:\\c\\foo"
            ,"C:\\t\\foo"
            ]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And another solution would be to use forward slashes.</p>
  
  <p>But I like being able to copy directories straight from explorer to my Python code.  Is there any way I can tell Python not to turn <code>"\t"</code> into a tab or some other solution to my problem?</p>