C Newline in Output

The \n escape sequence moves output to a new line, whether used once inside a single printf call or repeated across several separate calls.

In this page:

The \n Escape Sequence
Multiple Lines in One printf
Newlines Across Multiple printf Calls
Newline vs No Newline
Platform Differences in Line Endings

Syntax

printf("first line\nsecond line\n");

The \n Escape Sequence

The \n escape sequence represents a newline character, and placing it inside a string tells printf to move the cursor to the beginning of the next line at exactly that point in the output.

Example: The \n Escape Sequence

// Include standard input/output (printf, scanf)
#include <stdio.h>
// Program execution starts in main()
int main() {
	// Print formatted text to the screen
	printf("Line one\nLine two");
	// Return 0 to signal that the program finished successfully
	return 0;
}

Multiple Lines in One printf

A single printf call isn't limited to one line -- multiple \n sequences can appear within the same string literal, each one starting a new line as the string is printed.

Example: Multiple Lines in One printf

// Include standard input/output (printf, scanf)
#include <stdio.h>
// Program execution starts in main()
int main() {
	// Print formatted text to the screen
	printf("Line one\nLine two\nLine three");
	// Return 0 to signal that the program finished successfully
	return 0;
}

Newlines Across Multiple printf Calls

Newlines don't have to come from a single printf call; several consecutive calls can build up multi-line output together, with each \n in any of them starting a fresh line.

Example: Newlines Across Multiple printf Calls

// Include standard input/output (printf, scanf)
#include <stdio.h>
// Program execution starts in main()
int main() {
	// Print formatted text to the screen
	printf("Line one\n");
	// Print formatted text to the screen
	printf("Line two\n");
	// Return 0 to signal that the program finished successfully
	return 0;
}

Newline vs No Newline

Without an explicit \n, consecutive printf calls print their text immediately next to each other on the same line, which is a common source of confusing output for beginners expecting automatic line breaks.

Example: Newline vs No Newline

// Include standard input/output (printf, scanf)
#include <stdio.h>
// Program execution starts in main()
int main() {
	// Print formatted text to the screen
	printf("Hello");
	// Print formatted text to the screen
	printf("World");
	// Return 0 to signal that the program finished successfully
	return 0;
}

Platform Differences in Line Endings

The C standard library handles the translation between \n and the operating system's actual line-ending convention automatically when writing to a text-mode stream, so the same \n works correctly across Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Example: Platform Differences in Line Endings

// Include standard input/output (printf, scanf)
#include <stdio.h>
// Program execution starts in main()
int main() {
	// Print formatted text to the screen
	printf("This works the same on Linux, macOS, and Windows\n");
	// Return 0 to signal that the program finished successfully
	return 0;
}

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