Character codes for newlines in textareas

[Phil Endecott]

Dear Experts,

I have some Javascript code that reads and sometimes sets the content of
a textarea. I want this to be reasonably browser and platform
independent. My question is, what characters should I expect to find at
the end of a line? I suspect that I need to cope with either "\n" or
"\r\n"; can someone confirm?

Setting the content is more of a challenge. I don't want to have nasty
browser detection to select what to use for newlines. Is there one
newline pattern that is safe for all browsers?

Many thanks for any suggestions.

Phil.

[Alvaro G. Vicario]

*** Phil Endecott escribió/wrote (Fri, 25 Aug 2006 20:27:34 GMT):

I have some Javascript code that reads and sometimes sets the content of
a textarea. I want this to be reasonably browser and platform
independent. My question is, what characters should I expect to find at
the end of a line? I suspect that I need to cope with either "\n" or
"\r\n"; can someone confirm?

As far as I know, you can find:

\n in Unix/Linux
\r in MacOS 9 or older
\r\n in MacOS X and Windows

And several Unicode line endings nobody uses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_endings

Setting the content is more of a challenge. I don't want to have nasty
browser detection to select what to use for newlines. Is there one
newline pattern that is safe for all browsers?

I've never had any problem just using \n in Windows or Linux, but I can't
tell about MacOS 9.
--
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[Phil Endecott]

Alvaro G. Vicario wrote:

*** Phil Endecott escribió/wrote (Fri, 25 Aug 2006 20:27:34 GMT):

>I have some Javascript code that reads and sometimes sets the content of
a textarea. I want this to be reasonably browser and platform
independent. My question is, what characters should I expect to find at
the end of a line? I suspect that I need to cope with either "\n" or
"\r\n"; can someone confirm?

As far as I know, you can find:

\n in Unix/Linux
\r in MacOS 9 or older
\r\n in MacOS X and Windows

And several Unicode line endings nobody uses.

Thanks. I have read that you may get \n in Mozilla, whatever OS it is
on. Best to split on any of them I think.

>Setting the content is more of a challenge. I don't want to have nasty
browser detection to select what to use for newlines. Is there one
newline pattern that is safe for all browsers?

I've never had any problem just using \n in Windows or Linux, but I can't
tell about MacOS 9.

[Alvaro G. Vicario]

*** Alvaro G. Vicario escribió/wrote (Fri, 25 Aug 2006 23:25:50 +0200):

\n in Unix/Linux
\r in MacOS 9 or older
\r\n in MacOS X and Windows

Typo (as usual in me):

\n in Unix/Linux and MacOS X
\r in MacOS 9 or older
\r\n in Windows
--
-+ http://alvaro.es - Álvaro G. Vicario - Burgos, Spain
++ Mi sitio sobre programación web: http://bits.demogracia.com
+- Mi web de humor con rayos UVA: http://www.demogracia.com
--

[Dr John Stockton]

JRS: In article <W2************ ******@newsfe5-win.ntli.net>, dated Fri,
25 Aug 2006 20:27:34 remote, seen in news:comp.lang. javascript, Phil
Endecott <sp************ *******@chezphi l.orgposted :

>I have some Javascript code that reads and sometimes sets the content of
a textarea. I want this to be reasonably browser and platform
independent. My question is, what characters should I expect to find at
the end of a line? I suspect that I need to cope with either "\n" or
"\r\n"; can someone confirm?

That may not mean what you think it means.

You mean to ask whether you need to cope with both LF and CR LF, where
LF is ASCII 10 & CR is ASCII 13, respectively Unicode \u000A \u000D .
Note that you *might* also find just CR.

In Javascript string, \n means newline, whatever that is locally, LF or
CR LF or CR - so splitting on \n should always be right.

Note that \n is a line separator; a file or string may or may not have
\n before the first line or after the last.

If I'm wrong, then <URL:http://www.merlyn.demo n.co.uk/js-quick.htm>
buttons Pack & Indt may not work right on non-CRLF systems.

Indt now deals with many split-statement cases.

--
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<URL:http://www.jibbering.c om/faq/>? JL/RC: FAQ of news:comp.lang. javascript
<URL:http://www.merlyn.demo n.co.uk/js-index.htmjscr maths, dates, sources.
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[Phil Endecott]

Dr John Stockton wrote:

Phil Endecott posted :

>I have some Javascript code that reads and sometimes sets the content of
a textarea. I want this to be reasonably browser and platform
independent. My question is, what characters should I expect to find at
the end of a line? I suspect that I need to cope with either "\n" or
"\r\n"; can someone confirm?

That may not mean what you think it means.

You mean to ask whether you need to cope with both LF and CR LF, where
LF is ASCII 10 & CR is ASCII 13, respectively Unicode \u000A \u000D .
Note that you *might* also find just CR.

In Javascript string, \n means newline, whatever that is locally, LF or
CR LF or CR - so splitting on \n should always be right.

Oh dear, yet another complication.

So on Windows, a string containing "\n" is actually two characters? Try
this:

var s = "\n";
alert(s.length) ;

This message:
http://lists.evolt.org/archive/Week-...22/182514.html
suggests that Mozilla and IE behave differently on windows.
Phil.

[Dr John Stockton]

JRS: In article <nt************ ******@newsfe4-win.ntli.net>, dated Sat,
26 Aug 2006 21:57:39 remote, seen in news:comp.lang. javascript, Phil
Endecott <sp************ *******@chezphi l.orgposted :

>Dr John Stockton wrote:

>Phil Endecott posted :

>>I have some Javascript code that reads and sometimes sets the content of
a textarea. I want this to be reasonably browser and platform
independent . My question is, what characters should I expect to find at
the end of a line? I suspect that I need to cope with either "\n" or
"\r\n"; can someone confirm?

That may not mean what you think it means.

You mean to ask whether you need to cope with both LF and CR LF, where
LF is ASCII 10 & CR is ASCII 13, respectively Unicode \u000A \u000D .
Note that you *might* also find just CR.

In Javascript string, \n means newline, whatever that is locally, LF or
CR LF or CR - so splitting on \n should always be right.

Oh dear, yet another complication.

So on Windows, a string containing "\n" is actually two characters? Try
this:

var s = "\n";
alert(s.length );

I get 1.

We need to discriminate better in discussion between internal and
external representations of newline.
I have, in js-quick.htm, a textarea F.Code for execution.

Enter just "F.Code.value.l ength" and execute : I get result 19 ; add a
newline with the Enter key and execute : 21 ; another : 23.

Enter just "alert(F.Code.v alue.<ENTER>spl it(""))" and execute : result
shows two apparent newlines for the <ENTERkeystroke .

Enter just "alert(F.Code.v alue.<ENTER>spl it("\n"))" and execute : result
includes one apparent newline.
ISTM that the only really safe rule is that \n in a string outputs as
newline (probably always) and otherwise anything may happen!

To read a set of lines into an array, disregarding blank lines, I've
used return Ctrl.value.matc h(/([^\r\n]+)/g)
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