In C#, what's the difference between \n and \r\n?

Question

As per subject...

Answer 1

\n = LF (Line Feed) // Used as a new line character on Unix

\r = CR (Carriage Return) // Used as a new line character on Mac

\r\n = CR + LF // Used as a new line character on Windows

(char)13 = \r = CR

Environment.NewLine = any of the above code based on the operating system

// .NET provides the Environment class which provides many data based on operating systems, so if the application is built on Windows, and you use CR + LF ("\n\r" instead of Environment.NewLine) as the new line character in your strings, and then Microsoft creates a VM for running .NET applications in Unix, then there will be problem. So, you should always use Environment.NewLine when you want a new line character. Now you need not to care about the operating system.

Answer 2

It's about how the operating system recognizes line ends.

• Windows user \r\n
• Mac user \r
• Linux uses \n

Morale: if you are developing for Windows, stick to \r\n. Or even better, use C# string functions to deal with strings which already consider line endings (WriteLine, and such).