\n doesn't work

[Michael Bradley-Robbins]

I am writing a program, and I am using \n in double-quoted print statements,
which should give me a line break. It doesn't work. I'm running Apache 2.0
and PHP 5, with Mozilla Firefox as a browser. What is wrong?

[Hans van Kranenburg]

Michael Bradley-Robbins wrote:

I am writing a program, and I am using \n in double-quoted print statements,
which should give me a line break. It doesn't work. I'm running Apache 2.0
and PHP 5, with Mozilla Firefox as a browser. What is wrong?

And... you're not confusing \n <--> <br /> ?

Hans

--
"He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes;
he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever"

[Janwillem Borleffs]

Michael Bradley-Robbins wrote:

I am writing a program, and I am using \n in double-quoted print
statements, which should give me a line break. It doesn't work. I'm
running Apache 2.0 and PHP 5, with Mozilla Firefox as a browser. What
is wrong?

Look at the source (view-source in your browser) or wrap the output in
<pre></pre> tags.
JW

[Chris Hope]

Michael Bradley-Robbins wrote:

I am writing a program, and I am using \n in double-quoted print
statements, which should give me a line break. It doesn't work. I'm
running Apache 2.0 and PHP 5, with Mozilla Firefox as a browser. What
is wrong?

This one needs to go in the FAQ list.

\n gives you a newline break in the data sent to the browser, so if you
select the view source option in your browser you'll see the source
does indeed have a linebreak where you are expecting it. However,
linebreaks are ignored in HTML. To create a line break in HTML which is
rendered in the browser, you need the <br> tag.

--
Chris Hope - The Electric Toolbox - http://www.electrictoolbox.com/

[John Bokma]

Chris Hope wrote:

Michael Bradley-Robbins wrote:

I am writing a program, and I am using \n in double-quoted print
statements, which should give me a line break. It doesn't work. I'm
running Apache 2.0 and PHP 5, with Mozilla Firefox as a browser. What
is wrong?
This one needs to go in the FAQ list.

of an HTML group? I am sure it is. :-D.
\n gives you a newline break in the data sent to the browser, so if you
select the view source option in your browser you'll see the source
does indeed have a linebreak where you are expecting it. However,
linebreaks are ignored in HTML. To create a line break in HTML which is
rendered in the browser, you need the <br> tag.

Depends on what you want, it could be that you don't *want* the br element.

--
John MexIT: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/
personal page: http://johnbokma.com/
Experienced programmer available: http://castleamber.com/
Happy Customers: http://castleamber.com/testimonials.html

[Chris Hope]

John Bokma wrote:

Chris Hope wrote:

Michael Bradley-Robbins wrote:

I am writing a program, and I am using \n in double-quoted print
statements, which should give me a line break. It doesn't work. I'm
running Apache 2.0 and PHP 5, with Mozilla Firefox as a browser.
What is wrong?

This one needs to go in the FAQ list.

of an HTML group? I am sure it is. :-D.

Heh - yes it's basic fundamental HTML skills we're talking about here.
Although I've seen this same question asked here a few times now...

\n gives you a newline break in the data sent to the browser, so if
you select the view source option in your browser you'll see the
source does indeed have a linebreak where you are expecting it.
However, linebreaks are ignored in HTML. To create a line break in
HTML which is rendered in the browser, you need the <br> tag.

Depends on what you want, it could be that you don't *want* the br
element.

Very true. I was making an assumption based on the same experience other
people have had when posting here about this problem. Plus it seems
very unlikely that print "\n" does not output a newline break ;)

--
Chris Hope - The Electric Toolbox - http://www.electrictoolbox.com/

[google_nospam]

Here's something that may help - especially if you have a bunch of
\n(s) in a database somewhere that you are generating dynamic pages
with (that you would like to see the line breaks in).

http://us2.php.net/nl2br

This little baby will insert a <BR> before any \n in whatever variable
or string you pass to it. I use this for pages where users get to type
info into a field and hit \n\n to create a new paragraph. When they
submit it to a database, it is raw, but when I pull it out, I pass it
through nl2br and it adds the <BR>(s) for me.

Not sure if that's what you are looking for, but it's worth saying just
in case.

Shane

[John Bokma]

Chris Hope wrote:

people have had when posting here about this problem. Plus it seems
very unlikely that print "\n" does not output a newline break ;)

Yup, true.

--
John MexIT: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/
personal page: http://johnbokma.com/
Experienced programmer available: http://castleamber.com/
Happy Customers: http://castleamber.com/testimonials.html

[Daniel Tryba]

Chris Hope <bl*******@electrictoolbox.com> wrote:

This one needs to go in the FAQ list.

of an HTML group? I am sure it is. :-D.

Heh - yes it's basic fundamental HTML skills we're talking about here.
Although I've seen this same question asked here a few times now...

It already is (kind of):

msgid: 42***********************@news6.xs4all.nl
Subject: [FAQ] HTML is trunctating PHP text

Take a look at the source (the first place you should look to see what
PHP is actually doing) and you will see it's all there as

[Tim Roberts]

Chris Hope <bl*******@electrictoolbox.com> wrote:

Very true. I was making an assumption based on the same experience other
people have had when posting here about this problem. Plus it seems
very unlikely that print "\n" does not output a newline break ;)

It DOES output a newline break. Do a View->Source to prove it.

The issue is that newlines in HTML are just plain old white space, and are
removed when the page is rendered.

To get a line break rendered, you need to output a <br> tag.
--
- Tim Roberts, ti**@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

[Chris Hope]

Tim Roberts wrote:

Chris Hope <bl*******@electrictoolbox.com> wrote:

Very true. I was making an assumption based on the same experience
other people have had when posting here about this problem. Plus it
seems very unlikely that print "\n" does not output a newline break ;)

It DOES output a newline break. Do a View->Source to prove it.

The issue is that newlines in HTML are just plain old white space, and
are removed when the page is rendered.

To get a line break rendered, you need to output a <br> tag.

I know that, and that's exactly what I posted in my reply to the OP ;)

--
Chris Hope - The Electric Toolbox - http://www.electrictoolbox.com/

[John Bokma]

Tim Roberts wrote:

To get a line break rendered, you need to output a <br> tag.

Depends :-D. In a <pre> it *does* count, and there are some other places
where it counts (sometimes in old browsers at unexpected places).

--
John MexIT: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/
personal page: http://johnbokma.com/
Experienced programmer available: http://castleamber.com/
Happy Customers: http://castleamber.com/testimonials.html