{{short description|Subdivision of a text file}} {{Use American English |date=February 2024}} {{Use mdy dates |date=February 2024}} {{redirect-distinguish|Line of text|Line of type}} {{More citations needed |date=February 2024}}
In computing, a '''line''' is a unit of organization for text files. A line consists of a sequence of zero or more characters, usually displayed within a single horizontal sequence.
The term comes directly from physical printing, where a '''line of text''' is a horizontal row of characters.
Depending on the file system or operating system being used the number of characters on a line may either be predetermined or fixed, or the length may vary from line to line. Fixed-length lines are sometimes called records. With variable-length lines, the end of each line is usually indicated by the presence of one or more special end-of-line characters. These include line feed, carriage return, or combinations thereof.<ref name="duc18" />
A '''blank line''' usually refers to a line containing zero characters (not counting any end-of-line characters); though it may also refer to any line that does not contain any visible characters (consisting only of whitespace).
Some tools that operate on text files (e.g., editors) provide a mechanism to reference lines by their line number.
== See also == * Newline * Line wrap and word wrap * Line-oriented programming language, programming languages that interpret the end of line to be the end of an instruction or statement Category:Computer file formats Category:Computer data
== References == <references>
<ref name="duc18">{{cite news |title=Windows Notepad finally understands everyone else's end of line characters |last=Duckett |first=Chris |date=2018-05-09 |publisher=ZDNet |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-notepad-finally-understands-everyone-elses-end-of-line-characters/ |access-date=2023-02-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513055845/https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-notepad-finally-understands-everyone-elses-end-of-line-characters/ |archive-date=2018-05-13 }}</ref>
</references>