carriage return

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carriage return

The student presses the carriage return key on the typewriter.

Definition

Noun: 1. A control character or operation that moves the cursor or print head to the beginning of a new line: In computing and text processing, a carriage return is an instruction that prepares the system for the next character to be placed at the start of the following line. It originates from the action of a typewriter's carriage returning to its starting position.

Usage
  • The carriage return is a fundamental concept in digital text formatting.
  • Historically, in some systems, a carriage return (often represented as or CR) was distinct from a line feed (LF, ), which moves down to the next line. Together (CR+LF), they form a newline sequence.
  • In modern contexts, the term is often used to refer to the action of starting a new line, especially when discussing plain text files or programming.
Examples
  • "In the early days of computing, you often had to send both a carriage return and a line feed character to create a proper new line."
  • "The text file saved from the old Mac system uses only a carriage return to denote the end of a line."
  • "When editing code, ensure your carriage returns are consistent to avoid formatting issues across different operating systems."
Advanced Usage
  • Carriage Return Character: In programming and character encoding (like ASCII or Unicode), the carriage return is a specific control character (ASCII code 13, often denoted as in many programming languages).
    • Example: "The function replaces all \r\n (carriage return + line feed) sequences with a simple \n."
Variants and Related Words
  • CR: A common abbreviation for "carriage return."
  • Newline: A more general modern term for the character or sequence that ends a line of text and starts a new one, which often encompasses the function of a carriage return.
  • Line Feed (LF): The control character or operation that advances the cursor or print head to the next line without returning to the beginning. Frequently paired with a carriage return.
Synonyms
  • Return (informal, as in "press Return")
  • Enter key (in common modern usage, as the key often performs a carriage return/newline function)
Related Phrases
  • CRLF: An acronym for Carriage Return + Line Feed, the sequence () commonly used to mark a new line in Windows-based systems and internet protocols.
    • Example: "The network protocol requires each line of the message to be terminated with a CRLF."
carriage return

The student presses the carriage return key on the typewriter.

Noun
  1. the operation that prepares for the next character to be printed or displayed as the first character on a line