[Jprogramming] '\' '0' '4' '0' instead of a 'space' in .jhistory

['Rudolf Sykora' via Programming]

Dear list,


what is the reason that the 'space' character is coded as '\' '0' '4'
'0' in the .jhistory file?

(I know that \040 is the octal code for a space, but in .jhistory there
really are 4 characters '\', '0', '4', '0' instead of just single
'space' character).

This makes the file less readable / directly reusable, at least for me.
(E.g. cat or awk on .jhistory needs some more dance.) 


Thanks for comments.
Ruda