CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidxmlandroid-layoutnewlineandroid-resources
jsrz
jsrz

Reputation: 6052

String Resource new line /n not possible?

It doesn't seem like it's possible to add a new line /n to an XML resource string. Is there another way of doing this?

Upvotes: 221

Views: 228534

Answers (21)

Andreas Stokidis
Andreas Stokidis

Reputation: 402

You can use this format

<string name="test">
"This is
a new line"
</string>

Upvotes: 3

Nasib
Nasib

Reputation: 1559

Late answer but i think might help someone.

You will some times see \n in the textview in android studio's layout preview. (But it lies then). Please refresh layout.
Or deploy your app to a real Android Device to see the \n actually working in android string resource.

Upvotes: 0

Morteza
Morteza

Reputation: 79

finally, I found the solution. the <br/> is working on design only and it's not working in running app.
the \n is working on running app only and not working on design
so the solution is to use both if you want to have both results.
something like this

\n<br/>

Example:

Hello \n<br/>World.

Result in design mode:
Hello\n
World.

Result in running app:
Hello
World.

Upvotes: 2

ilidiocn
ilidiocn

Reputation: 390

I have tried 1-Top word \n Bottom word 2-Top word ENTER Bottom word

Didn't work And finally <br/> worked for me in android studio

In fact the correct way to use it is \n although it is possible to see it done after Build the application. The
only has an effect on the design and not on the application

<string name="available_balance">Available\nBalance</string> //Look good on the app and Available\nBalance in android studio
<string name="available_balance">Available<br/>Balance</string> //Look good in android studio and Available Balance on the App

Upvotes: 2

Alejandro Ibague
Alejandro Ibague

Reputation: 171

To see in the design tab the line breaks and in the device i use:

<br/><br/>\n\n

(to 2 break lines)

Upvotes: 1

Bharat Lalwani
Bharat Lalwani

Reputation: 1530

I have tried two options, both are efficient and easy.

  1. I used <br/> HTML tag
<string name="name_detail">
        Hey user. <br/>
        Enjoy a new shopping deal.!!
</string>
  1. Add an encoding line at the top of strings.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

and use "\n" to break line Example

<string name="name_detail">
        Hey user.\n
        Enjoy a new shopping deal.!!
</string>

Upvotes: 5

Prajwal Waingankar
Prajwal Waingankar

Reputation: 2718

\n tag worked in the strings.xml file

Eg:

 <string name="hello">Hello World &amp;\nWelcome</string>

Output:

Hello World &
Welcome

Note:

  • Make sure that you dont add space before and after of \n"
  • Even if it doesnt looks on new line in the preview window of UI when you run the app it will be displayed in the next line.

Upvotes: 1

ijk
ijk

Reputation: 11

Have you tried turning it off and on again ?! This is a very old question but no other answer seem to suggest this.
It could be that the layout preview on android studio is not properly displaying the textView. So you could try exiting android studio and launching it again.
I guess this can happen if android studio was open while the computer was in sleep/hibernate etc.
Anyway, worth a shot.

Upvotes: -1

Haris Umaid
Haris Umaid

Reputation: 106

Although the actual problem was with the forward slash still for those using backslash but still saw \n in their layout.

Well i was also puzzled at first by why \n is not working in the layout but it seems that when you actually see that layout in an actual device it creates a line break so no need to worry what it shows on layout display screen your line breaks would be working perfectly fine on devices.

Upvotes: 0

Ahmet B.
Ahmet B.

Reputation: 1684

Just use "\n" in your strings.xml file as below

<string name="relaxing_sounds">RELAXING\nSOUNDS</string>

Even if it doesn't looks 2 lines on layout actually it is 2 lines. Firstly you can check it on Translation Editor

enter image description here

Click the down button and you will see this image

enter image description here

Moreover if you run the app you will see that it is written in two lines.

Upvotes: 1

Torkel B&#246;rjeson
Torkel B&#246;rjeson

Reputation: 129

When using the translations editor in Android Studio just click the icon to the right (or use Shift-Enter on Windows, Alt/Option-Enter on MacOS) and then add line breaks using return.

This will insert \n correctly in the localized strings.xml.

Upvotes: 9

Mahmoud Mabrok
Mahmoud Mabrok

Reputation: 1482

After I tried next solution

  • add \n
  • add \n without spaces after it
  • use "" and press Enter inside text
  • text with press Enter
  • use lines=2

What solves me is br tag

<string name="successfullyfeatured">successfully<br/> You are now a member</string>

Update

the most reliable solution is to use Translation editor and edit text and it will handle new lines for you

Upvotes: 45

james
james

Reputation: 26271

use a blackslash not a forwardslash. \n

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <string name="title">Hello\nWorld!</string>
</resources>

Also, if you plan on using the string as HTML, you can use &lt;br /&gt; for a line break(<br />)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <string name="title">Hello&lt;br /&gt;World!</string>
</resources>

Upvotes: 441

Peter
Peter

Reputation: 10980

This is an old question, but I found that when you create a string like this:

<string name="newline_test">My
New line test</string>

The output in your app will be like this (no newline)

My New line test

When you put the string in quotation marks

<string name="newline_test">"My
New line test"</string>

the newline will appear:

My 
New line test

Upvotes: 38

SaloniGupts
SaloniGupts

Reputation: 31

don't put space after \n, otherwise, it won't work. I don't know the reason, but this trick worked for me pretty well.

Upvotes: 3

Hill Karimov
Hill Karimov

Reputation: 21

I just faced this issue. didn't work on TextView with constraint parameters. Adding android:lines="2" seems to fix this.

Upvotes: 2

avalancha
avalancha

Reputation: 1774

I want to expand on this answer. What they meant is this icon:

Editor window button

It opens a "real editor window" instead of the limited-feature text box in the big overview. In that editor window, special chars, linebreaks etc. are allowed and converted to the correct xml "code" when saved

Upvotes: 1

Sventra
Sventra

Reputation: 71

In the latest version of Android studio, "\n" is going to be printed like it was meant to be there unless the whole string it's in apostrophes

For Example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <string name="title">"Hello\nWorld!"</string>
</resources>

Upvotes: 7

Ali Nawaz
Ali Nawaz

Reputation: 2500

Very simple you have to just put
\n where ever you want to break line in your string resource.

For example

String s = my string resource have \n line break here;

Upvotes: 1

flamandier
flamandier

Reputation: 502

If you put "\n" in a string in the xml file, it's taken as "\\n"

So , I did : 

text = text.Replace("\\\n", "\n");   ( text is taken from resX file)

And then I get a line jump on the screen

Upvotes: 4

Dimesio
Dimesio

Reputation: 662

I know this is pretty old question but it topped the list when I searched. So I wanted to update with another method.

In the strings.xml file you can do the \n or you can simply press enter:

<string name="Your string name" > This is your string.

   This is the second line of your string.\n\n Third line of your string.</string>

This will result in the following on your TextView:

This is your string.

This is the second line of your string.

Third line of your string.

This is because there were two returns between the beginning declaration of the string and the new line. I also added the \n to it for clarity, as either can be used. I like to use the carriage returns in the xml to be able to see a list or whatever multiline string I have. My two cents.

Upvotes: 52

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