HTML Line Breaks: Should I Use '\n' or CSS `white-space`?

Line Breaks in HTML: The Use of 'n'

When working with HTML, you may encounter the issue of line breaks not being properly displayed as intended. By default, HTML ignores new line characters (n) in your text content. To properly display line breaks, you can use the HTML tag
. However, there's an alternative method utilizing character encoding.

The character code 'n' represents a line break in HTML, making it possible to embed line breaks directly into your text. While it may seem like a convenient workaround, there are better options available.

A More Efficient Solution: CSS White-Space Property

Instead of manually inserting 'n', you can use the CSS white-space property to achieve the desired line breaks. By setting the white-space value to pre-line, the text will respect line breaks without the need for explicit line breaks (e.g.,
). This method is cleaner and more flexible, allowing you to control line breaks through external style sheets.

Example:

<span></span>

Here, the white-space around the text will collapse, and the text will honor carriage returns and new line characters while preserving spaces between words.

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