PHP new line

Php provides the function nl2br() to create a new line for the string. This is the in-built function of the Php library, which is used to insert the line breaks in the string before all the newlines. Though there are some newline characters like n and r, are used to create a new line, but the line breaks created by them are not visible on the browser. Though HTML tag
(break) is also used to break the string when used in Php enclosed in double quotes ( “ “). So the nl2br() function along with the newline characters n and r are used to insert a line in the string in Php language.

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Syntax

The basic syntax of using the newline in Php string is given below:

nl2br(string/text, xhtml)

where,

• string/text: It specifies the string that is to be passed to insert the line breaks in it along with the newline characters ‘n’ or ‘r.’
• xhtml: It is an optional parameter that indicates whether to use the xhtml compatible line breaks or not. By default, its value is set to ‘TRUE’.

Return Value: Function nl2br() returns the converted string value after applying the break
tag for every new line.

Php line breaks ‘n r’ are converted into the HTML line breaks ‘
’ using a single function nl2br(). This function takes 2 arguments, the first being the text or the string on which the line breaks need to be added at the specific points using the newline character sequences and the other being the optional argument asking for xhtml compatibility.

How to add a new line in Php using various methods?

Though line breaks in the Php can be added using the various methods, but every method is used in specific scenarios. So the methods used in the Php to add the new lines or creating the line breaks in the string along with their description and examples are described below for a clear understanding :

Example #1

Adding the line breaks in the source code only with the use of newline character sequences ‘n’ or ‘r’. These line breaks are not visible on the browser.

Code:

<?php echo "We are trying to insert the line breaks by directly using the newline characters... \n \r";
echo "This is the first line. \n\r This is the second line.";
?>

Output:

In the above code, as we can see in the output, n and r character sequences are used to insert the line breaks in the code. It will break the line wherever used. They are useful when working with files or databases.

But these character sequences alone are not sufficient to break the line, and the text is displayed in a single line. The line breaks done using them are not visible on the browsers.

Example #2

Adding the line breaks in the Php code with the use of HTML tag
.

Code:

<?php echo "Now we are breaking the lines using the html tag";
echo "</br>";
echo "This is the first line breaked..";
echo "";
echo "";
echo "This is the second line breaked..";
?>

Output:

In the above code, the HTML tag ‘
’ is used to insert the line breaks in the Php code. This is the simplest way to insert the line breaks in the code as this is the standalone HTML tag which works definitely for the browser. As we can see from the above output, line breaks are inserted as expected, i.e. before encountering any ‘
’ tag. One important thing to keep in mind while using the
tag in the Php code is that it should be quoted in double quotes “ ”.

Example #3

Adding the line breaks being visible on the web browser using nl2br(), php inbuilt function along with the newline characters ‘n’ or ‘r’.

Code:

<?php echo nl2br("Hello !! This is the first line of my php text \n Now breaking it in 2 lines \n Here is the second line \n\n Congratulations!! Now this line break is visible on the browser");
?>

Output:

Example #4

In the above example, newline characters nr are used along with the Php inbuilt function nl2br() to insert the line breaks before the character sequences are found in the code. nn is used to insert an extra line break.

Code:

<?php echo nl2br("Hello !! We are using the nl2br function \n\r along with the xhtml parameter \n\r", false);
?>

Output:

In the above code, an extra parameter for the xhtml (which accepts the boolean value) is added in the function nl2br(). The value passed in the parameter is ‘false’. The line is broken appropriately, as we can see in the output of the above code.

Notes:

Some important points to be kept in mind for inserting the line breaks in the Php code:

• Though we can insert the line breaks using the newline characters ‘n’ and ‘r’ for inserting line breaks in a file or a database but to make this line breaks visible on the browser, programmers need to use the n2lbr() function.
• To be on the same side, one should use both rn characters to create a new line.
• Different operating systems use specific newline characters like MAC uses ‘r’, UNIX uses ‘n’ characters and Windows uses ‘nr’.
• In PHP, n2lbr() is an inbuilt function.
• In Php, PHP_EOL is a predefined constant that is used to represent the end of the line.

Conclusion

The above description clearly explains how to insert the line breaks in the string in Php language using the inbuilt function nl2br() along with the characters ‘n’ and ‘r’. As with all the methods described above, add the breaks in the string of Php code in their own ways. But to insert the line break which is visible on the browser, using the nl2br() function is a must. So the programmer needs to understand the requirements first and use them accordingly.

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