diff --git a/.github/workflows/codespell-private.yml b/.github/workflows/codespell-private.yml
index f6cda80f5e..b0dd6b6e50 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/codespell-private.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/codespell-private.yml
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ jobs:
   test:
     env:
       REQUIRE_ASPELL: true
+      RUFF_FORMAT: github
     # Make sure we're using the latest aspell dictionary
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     strategy:
@@ -75,6 +76,8 @@ jobs:
       - run: make check-dictionaries
 
   ruff-annotation:
+    env:
+      RUFF_FORMAT: github
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Setup python
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 457094ee63..df90210562 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ codespell
 =========
 
 Fix common misspellings in text files. It's designed primarily for checking
-misspelled words in source code, but it can be used with other files as well.
+misspelled words in source code (backslash escapes are skipped), but it can be used with other files as well.
 It does not check for word membership in a complete dictionary, but instead
 looks for a set of common misspellings. Therefore it should catch errors like
 "adn", but it will not catch "adnasdfasdf". This also means it shouldn't
diff --git a/codespell_lib/tests/test_basic.py b/codespell_lib/tests/test_basic.py
index b16a2d82b7..9c35ce091d 100644
--- a/codespell_lib/tests/test_basic.py
+++ b/codespell_lib/tests/test_basic.py
@@ -97,9 +97,6 @@ def test_basic(
     with fname.open("a") as f:
         f.write("this is a test file\n")
     assert cs.main(fname) == 0, "good"
-    with fname.open("a") as f:
-        f.write("var = '\\nDoes not error on newline'\n")
-    assert cs.main(fname) == 0, "with string escape"
     with fname.open("a") as f:
         f.write("abandonned\n")
     assert cs.main(fname) == 1, "bad"
@@ -110,6 +107,14 @@ def test_basic(
         f.write("tim\ngonna\n")
     assert cs.main(fname) == 2, "with a name"
     assert cs.main("--builtin", "clear,rare,names,informal", fname) == 4
+    with fname.open("w") as f:  # overwrite the file
+        f.write("var = 'nwe must check codespell likes escapes nin strings'\n")
+    assert cs.main(fname) == 1, "checking our string escape test word is bad"
+    # the first one is missed because the apostrophe means its not currently
+    # treated as a word on its own
+    with fname.open("w") as f:  # overwrite the file
+        f.write("var = '\\nwe must check codespell likes escapes \\nin strings'\n")
+    assert cs.main(fname) == 0, "with string escape"
     result = cs.main(fname, "--builtin", "foo", std=True)
     assert isinstance(result, tuple)
     code, _, stderr = result