gawk "\\" "(" strange behavior ...

[Jeff Chua]

Can someone please explain why I've to use /\\/ instead of "\\" to 
substitute "backslash" into "b" ...


this works ...
echo "\\" | awk '{print $0; gsub(/\\/, "b"); print $0;}'


this doesn't ...
echo "\\" | awk '{print $0; gsub("\\", "b"); print $0;}'




Another one, this one is to substitute left-bracket for "b", but I've to 
escape it _two_ backslashes. Why not just _one_ backslash?

this works ...
echo "(" | awk '{print $0; gsub("\\(", "b"); print $0;}'

this doesn't ...
echo "(" | awk '{print $0; gsub("(", "b"); print $0;}'
echo "(" | awk '{print $0; gsub("\(", "b"); print $0;}'



Thanks,
Jeff