Final answer:
Escape characters are special characters in programming marked with a \, such as \\ for newline and \t for tab, allowing for control within strings.
Step-by-step explanation:
Escape characters are special output characters marked with a \. In programming languages, they are used to represent characters that either have a special function or cannot be typed directly in the code. For example, the newline character is represented as \\, which moves the cursor to the next line when outputting text. Similarly, the tab character is represented as \t, which inserts a tab space in the text. These escape sequences provide a way to incorporate such functionality within strings and control characters in programs.