Difference between "\n" and Environment.NewLine

Solution 1:

Depends on the platform. On Windows it is actually "\r\n".

From MSDN:

A string containing "\r\n" for non-Unix platforms, or a string containing "\n" for Unix platforms.

Solution 2:

Exact implementation of Environment.NewLine from the source code:

The implementation in .NET 4.6.1:

/*===================================NewLine====================================
**Action: A property which returns the appropriate newline string for the given
**        platform.
**Returns: \r\n on Win32.
**Arguments: None.
**Exceptions: None.
==============================================================================*/
public static String NewLine {
    get {
        Contract.Ensures(Contract.Result<String>() != null);
        return "\r\n";
    }
}

source

The implementation in .NET Core:

/*===================================NewLine====================================
**Action: A property which returns the appropriate newline string for the
**        given platform.
**Returns: \r\n on Win32.
**Arguments: None.
**Exceptions: None.
==============================================================================*/
public static String NewLine {
    get {
        Contract.Ensures(Contract.Result() != null);
#if !PLATFORM_UNIX
        return "\r\n";
#else
        return "\n";
#endif // !PLATFORM_UNIX
    }
}

source (in System.Private.CoreLib)

public static string NewLine => "\r\n";

source (in System.Runtime.Extensions)

Solution 3:

As others have mentioned, Environment.NewLine returns a platform-specific string for beginning a new line, which should be:

• "\r\n" (\u000D\u000A) for Windows
• "\n" (\u000A) for Unix
• "\r" (\u000D) for Mac (if such implementation existed)

Note that when writing to the console, Environment.NewLine is not strictly necessary. The console stream will translate "\n" to the appropriate new-line sequence, if necessary.