a few changes enclosed:

* documented deps
* mild string escaping
* corrected a misbehavior in sym

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