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In Emacs regex, \n doesn't match a new line character \n.

  1. Am I correct that $ matches the position between a new line character and the character right before the new line character. e.g. for a string abc\n, $ matches the position between c and \n?
  2. What is the regex that matches \n?
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    Could you provide a minimum working example? Maybe I'm missing something, but (re-search-forward "\n") works fine for me.
    – Dan ♦
    Commented Feb 25, 2015 at 0:37
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    Your file might use \r\n for new lines and it may be that you need to include \r in your regexp, so abc\r\n instead of abc\n.
    – Jordon Biondo
    Commented Feb 25, 2015 at 15:53
  • @Dan: C-M-s and M-x occur both match \n to n. my buffer is in Fundamental mode. This happens to any text, so any text with new line or letter n is a working example
    – Tim
    Commented Feb 27, 2015 at 2:17
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    @Jordon: C-M-s and M-x occur both match \r\n to rn
    – Tim
    Commented Feb 27, 2015 at 2:18
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    @Tim, yes because if you are entering them interactively you'd need to do a quoted inserts, C-q C-m, and C-q C-j respectively. You could enter \r\n if you were entering them into a lisp string.
    – Jordon Biondo
    Commented Feb 27, 2015 at 3:27

2 Answers 2

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  1. Yes. $ matches the end of the line, not the newline character which comes after the end of the line.
  2. Do C-M-s C-q C-j. C-q is the default binding for quoted-insert and works in the minibuffer too. This expression literally searches for a newline: C-j.
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    2. are you saying the new line character can not be represented as an escape sequence in Emacs regex?
    – Tim
    Commented Feb 25, 2015 at 0:01
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    Whether searching for a newline interactively or via elisp (e.g. (looking-at "^J") where ^J is inserted by C-q C-j), the C-q C-j approach always works. But when using elisp functions like the same looking-at \n works too; M-: (looking-at "\n") RET will eval to true if the cursor is at the end of the line (and there's a newline after that).
    – Kaushal Modi
    Commented Feb 25, 2015 at 0:09
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    Just to mention, if using regexp-builder, you're able to recognize a new line with [\n].
    – Nsukami _
    Commented Feb 25, 2015 at 0:29
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    @Nsukami_: C-M-s and M-x occur both match [\n] to n.
    – Tim
    Commented Feb 27, 2015 at 2:19
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As Dan comments, the regex that matches a newline is a newline.

You can represent a newline in a quoted string in elisp as "\n". There is no special additional regexp-specific syntax for this -- you just use a newline, exactly like any other literal character.

If you are entering a regexp interactively then you can insert the newline with C-qC-j, as kaushalmodi's answer points out.

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    Thanks! In emacs (not in elisp), is C-q C-j the only way to match a new line character? \n doesn't match a new line character.
    – Tim
    Commented Apr 9, 2015 at 17:10
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    Yes. Well, more specifically, typing a newline is the only way to match a newline character when entering a regexp interactively (as there is no regexp escape sequence for a newline), and C-q C-j is the most reliable way to type a newline at a prompt.
    – phils
    Commented Apr 9, 2015 at 22:21
  • There can be workarounds, see stackoverflow.com/a/20056634/3873799
    – alelom
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 15:53
  • @alelom I don't understand what you're trying to say there. That Q&A appears to be about EOL conventions (which vary and may or may not involve carriage return characters), but this question is about matching a newline character.
    – phils
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 23:05

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