\
Means Previous, String, Literal Match (in Regexp) or Special Characters (in Regexp)
If you enter only a Return in a command line, Qedit increments the current line pointer to the next line and displays it.
If you enter a command line containing only a backslash (“\”), Qedit decrements the current line to the previous line and displays it. Entering several backslashes (“\\\”) displays backwards several lines.
You can also use \ as a string delimiter (e.g., /list \xxx\).
A backslash (\) in regular expressions is used to indicate the next character must be used as a literal. It removes any special meaning this character might otherwise have.
/list "\[" (regexp) {“[” is not start of character class}
A backslash (\) in regular expressions might qualify the next character as a special, nonprinting character. These are special characters:
\b Backspace
\f Form feed
\n New line (line feed)
\r Carriage return
\s Space
\t Horizontal tab
\e ASCII escape character (ESC)
\DDD 1-3 octal digits representing a character’s ASCII value
\xDDD 1-3 hex digits representing a character’s ASCII value
\^C Control code (e.g,. Control-G (^G) is the Bell character)