diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 7ceedba..6657dae 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,12 +1,18 @@
 [package]
 name = "relish"
-version = "0.1.0"
+version = "0.2.0"
 authors = ["Ava <ava@sunnypup.io>"]
-edition = "2018"
+edition = "2021"
 
 [dependencies]
+# used in config (src/run.rs)
 dirs = "3.0"
+# these two are used in src/bin/relish.rs to manage a prompt
 nu-ansi-term = "0.47.0"
 reedline = "0.17.0"
+# these two used in posix shell layer (src/stl/posix.rs)
 nix = "0.26.2"
-ctrlc = { version = "3.0", features = ["termination"] }
\ No newline at end of file
+ctrlc = { version = "3.0", features = ["termination"] }
+# this one provides a global constant lookup table for simple
+# string escaping in the lexer
+phf = { version = "0.11", default-features = false, features = ["macros"] }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Readme.org b/Readme.org
index 37fca63..34d8ef5 100644
--- a/Readme.org
+++ b/Readme.org
@@ -489,7 +489,6 @@ Note: this section only tracks the state of incomplete TODO items. Having everyt
   - be able to fg a bg process
   - be able to bg and fg process (ctrl z?)
   - Documentation!
-- Escape sequences in strings
 - logging library
 - make const all the error messages
 - make presentation on relish
diff --git a/src/lex.rs b/src/lex.rs
index d2a5fbd..894d28e 100644
--- a/src/lex.rs
+++ b/src/lex.rs
@@ -16,10 +16,18 @@
  */
 
 use crate::segment::{Ctr, Seg};
+use phf::{Map, phf_map};
 
 const UNMATCHED_STR_DELIM: &str = "Unmatched string delimiter in input";
 const UNMATCHED_LIST_DELIM: &str = "Unmatched list delimiter in input";
 
+
+static ESCAPES: Map<char, char> = phf_map! {
+    'n' => '\n',
+    't' => '\t',
+    '\\' => '\\',
+};
+
 /* takes a line of user input
  * returns an unsimplified tree of tokens.
  */
@@ -71,7 +79,7 @@ fn process(document: &String) -> Result<Box<Seg>, String> {
             delim = *d;
 
             if delim == '*' {
-                token.push(c);
+                token.push(ESCAPES[&c]);
                 delim_stack.pop();
                 continue;
 
@@ -136,7 +144,7 @@ fn process(document: &String) -> Result<Box<Seg>, String> {
                     delim_stack.push('\n');
                 }
                 // escape next char
-                '\\' => {
+                '\\' => if is_str {
                     delim_stack.push('*');
                 }
                 // add to token
diff --git a/src/sym.rs b/src/sym.rs
index 2bf9db5..114b18b 100644
--- a/src/sym.rs
+++ b/src/sym.rs
@@ -132,9 +132,6 @@ impl SymTable {
         // but we dont want to increment it
         symbol.__generation -= 1;
         self.insert(name.to_string(), symbol.clone());
-
-        let cond_args: &Seg;
-        let outer_scope_seg_holder: Seg;
         if let ValueType::VarForm(ref val) = symbol.value {
             match **val {
                 Ctr::Lambda(ref l) if call_func => {
@@ -147,13 +144,11 @@ impl SymTable {
                 _ => return Ok(val.clone()),
             }
         } else if call_func {
-            cond_args = args
+            symbol.call(args, self)
         } else {
-            outer_scope_seg_holder = Seg::new();
-            cond_args = &outer_scope_seg_holder;
+            // its a function but call_func is off
+            Ok(Box::new(Ctr::Symbol(name.to_string())))
         }
-
-        symbol.call(cond_args, self)
     }
 
     pub fn is_function_type(&self, name: &String) -> Option<bool> {