The escape sequences are interpreted as single special or other characters, hence the strange output. "\\"
means '\'
for example.
You can use a raw string literal:
#include <iostream> int main() { std::cout << R"( _____/\\\\\\\\\________/\\\\\\\\\\\__________/\\\\\\\\\__/\\\\\\\\\\\__/\\\\\\\\\\\_ ___/\\\\\\\\\\\\\____/\\\/////////\\\_____/\\\////////__\/////\\\///__\/////\\\///__ __/\\\/////////\\\__\//\\\______\///____/\\\/_______________\/\\\_________\/\\\_____ _\/\\\_______\/\\\___\////\\\__________/\\\_________________\/\\\_________\/\\\_____ _\/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\______\////\\\______\/\\\_________________\/\\\_________\/\\\_____ _\/\\\/////////\\\_________\////\\\___\//\\\________________\/\\\_________\/\\\_____ _\/\\\_______\/\\\__/\\\______\//\\\___\///\\\______________\/\\\_________\/\\\_____ _\/\\\_______\/\\\_\///\\\\\\\\\\\/______\////\\\\\\\\\__/\\\\\\\\\\\__/\\\\\\\\\\\_ _\///________\///____\///////////___________\/////////__\///////////__\///////////__ )" << '\n'; return 0; }