Newline facts for kids
Imagine you're typing on a computer or a phone. When you press the 'Enter' key, what happens? Your cursor usually moves to the next line, right? That's thanks to something called a line feed character!
A line feed is a special hidden character in computer text. Its main job is to tell a printer or a screen to move down one line. Think of it like telling a robot to take one step down.
Long ago, when people used old machines called teletypes, the line feed character literally made the paper roll up one line. That's where the "feed" part of the name comes from! On some computer systems, like those in the Unix family, a line feed also moves the cursor to the very beginning of the new line, just like a carriage return character does.
Images for kids
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This image shows how a "newline" (which includes a line feed) makes text appear on a new line.
See also
In Spanish: Nueva línea para niños
