Line Feed or Carriage Return - What to use?

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Asked 11 years, 11 months ago

Modified 11 years, 11 months ago

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In javascript, Line Feed and Carriage Return behaves similarly.

Which one to use and when?

Can it be used alternatively?

Line Feed: \u000A

Carriage Return: \u000D

<script>
    alert("Hello \u000A World - <LF>");
    alert("Hello \u000D World - <CR>");
</script>

asked Jan 16, 2013 at 4:10

abhisekp

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1

While not exactly an answer to your Question, the newline (\n) is preferable, at least in your example (and probably elsewhere as well).
– akTed
Commented Jan 16, 2013 at 5:02
@AKTed could you explain why i should prefer newline (\n) more than line feed (\r) ?
– abhisekp
Commented Jan 16, 2013 at 5:22
1

I shouldn't have said preferable since that implies a standard. It is really a lazy way to code. See this Answer for why you should really use both: /r/n.
– akTed
Commented Jan 16, 2013 at 5:51
2

@AKTed: That question and answer is about the HTTP protocol. If you're writing an HTTP client in JavaScript, then, sure, you should use \r\n, but that's a very specific context. In the context of an alert box and most other scenarios where you just want to create a new line, all you need is \n ("newline"). There's no real reason to use a carriage return. There's no carriage or cursor to return or an arbitrary specification/outdated tradition that requires it.
– Lèse majesté
Commented Jan 16, 2013 at 8:16
1

You can write "\n" in an alert. alert("hello" + "\n" + "world") or simply alert("hello\nworld"). As far as I know, that's valid in all browsers. I can't say which is better, but that's the way I've usually seen/done it.
– akTed
Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 5:23

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