Joaquim Ignatious Monteiro

2 minute read

New line

A newline, also known as a line break or end-of-line (EOL) character, is a special character or sequence of characters used to indicate the end of a line of text. It is commonly used in computing and programming to separate lines of code or text.

Windows uses the combination \r\n (also known as CR/LF (Carriage Return and Line Feed)) to denote the new line character

Unix-like systems use \n (LF (Line Feed)) to denote the new line character

Python code written on Windows can generally run on Linux systems, as Python is cross-platform. Most Python interpreters solve the end-of-line differences automatically. But scripts with DOS (Windows) line endings can cause issues in bash scripts or when read as plain text files.

You can use tools like dos2unix and unix2dos to convert line endings of bash scripts and text files.

VS Code

Setting the end-of-line character in VS Code

You can set the end of line character for the current project in VS Code with a simple click (see video below)

Setting the end-of-line character in VS Code

Set the end-of-line character globally in VS Code

You can globally configure the end-of-line (EOL) character in Visual Studio Code (VS Code) by adjusting its settings as summarized below:

  1. Open Settings:
    • Click on the gear icon in the bottom-left corner of VS Code and select Settings.
    • Alternatively, press Ctrl + , (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + , (Mac).
  2. Search for EOL Setting:
    • In the search bar at the top of the Settings window, type “end of line”.
  3. Set the Default EOL:
    • Look for the setting Files: EOL.
    • From the dropdown, choose:
      • LF: Line Feed (\n) — Common for Linux/macOS.
      • CRLF: Carriage Return + Line Feed (\r\n) — Common for Windows.
  4. Save the Setting:
    • The change is automatically saved and will apply globally for all new files created in VS Code.

Git and end-of-line character

What about code you clone from a Git repo or the code that you push to a Git repo ?

The default end-of-line (EOL) setting in Git depends on the operating system and whether specific configurations like core.autocrlf or .gitattributes have been set.

Default Behavior

  1. Without Configuration (No core.autocrlf or .gitattributes):
    • Git stores files with their original line endings as they are added to the repository.
    • There is no automatic normalization or conversion of EOLs during commits or checkouts.
  2. When core.autocrlf Is Not Set:
    • Git does not modify line endings. It will use whatever EOLs exist in the working directory files.

Operating System Influence

  • Windows:
    • Many developers enable core.autocrlf=true to convert LF (repository) to CRLF (working directory) and vice versa.
  • Linux/macOS:
    • Most developers leave core.autocrlf unset or set it to input for minimal interference, ensuring files in the repository use LF.

Key Takeaways

  • The default behavior is no EOL normalization unless explicitly configured with core.autocrlf or .gitattributes.
  • To ensure consistent line endings in a collaborative environment, it’s best to use a .gitattributes file to define EOL policies explicitly.

For example:

* text=auto

This normalizes text files to LF in the repository and applies platform-specific EOLs on checkout.

For a brief history and Normalizing Line Endings in Git read this article.
CRLF vs. LF: Normalizing Line Endings in Git