$string = 'it\'s not that hard to add a $slash';
It's not too hard to add a slash unless you have to do it in a big chunk of text that may contain quotes, slashes, etc. - e.g. random PHP code for a template generation. Going over it each time is sure recipe for errors, and is very annoying. Having something that can accept any text with absolutely no modification looks a good idea to me, and far more than "saving one keystroke".
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Stanislav Malyshev, Zend Software Architect
stas@zend.com http://www.zend.com/
(408)253-8829 MSN: stas@zend.com