line feed

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line feed (LF)
1. A format command for printers and displays, signaling the requirement that the data that follows should be printed or displayed one line pitch below the preceding data. In impact printers it invokes the physical movement required to move the paper at right angles to the print line by a distance equal to the previously specified pitch between printed lines. In nonimpact page printers it invokes an analogous action in the stored image that is subsequently transferred to the paper in a continuous movement.

2. A format command that with some operating systems is used to terminate a line of input and an implicit CR (carriage return) actioned so that the next input is displayed/printed at the start of the next line.