"\t" is the escape sequence for the horizontal tab character.
Use '\t' or "\\t"
Single quoted strings interpret \ literally, which I would recommend for your use case. Otherwise, you need to escape the \ character so that it is interpreted literally.
In the case of PHP, \ , the preceding invalid escape sequence inside a double-quoted string is also interpreted literally. I would rather avoid this behavior, following the principle of least surprise.
ps. (thanks to @IMSoP) There are two cases where \ not interpreted literally inside single quote strings:
- Doubling backslashes is still possible, but not necessary. For example:
'\\hi' === '\hi' - The string delimiter character must be escaped inside the string literal. For example:
'\'' === "'"
However, one-line strings are less surprising in that \n , \r , \t , \v , \040 and a similar result in the actual sequence of characters inside a string literal instead of those interpreted as escape sequences.
Doubling all backslashes, which must be interpreted literally, is also a strong option that works with both double and single quotes.