How do I make a new line or tab in XML?

Question

In my strings.xml file I have a very long text which I want to format.

How can I put a tab before the first sentence of the text? Also, what is the code for new line?

See my answer here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18938403/how-to-preserve-line-breaks-in-xml-string-resources-in-android/31683548#31683548 — Jin, Jul 28 '15 at 17:46

score 228 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 06 '17 at 10:27

228

Add \t for tab and \n for new line.

edited Mar 06 '17 at 10:27

aleksandrbel

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answered Dec 30 '12 at 15:05

Boris Strandjev

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How can I make two break lines? – jvargas Jun 10 '20 at 15:37
2

@jvargas \n\n you are permitted to sequence them as much as needed – Boris Strandjev Jun 11 '20 at 06:13
I find android studio will often strip any '\n' out of my string files, particularly after using the translation editor. Very irritating. – Androidcoder May 13 '21 at 18:28

NhatVM · Answer 2 · 2021-05-24T06:19:44.510

39

\n didn't work for me. So I used   HTML tag

<string name="message_register_success">
    Sign up is complete. <br/>
    Enjoy a new shopping life at fatherofapps.com!!
</string>

edited May 24 '21 at 06:19

answered Jan 20 '21 at 06:24

NhatVM

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In the layout, you can see the \n to be visible but while running \n converts into a new line on the actual device and the
looks a new line in layout but in actual device it is visible as
– Simran Sharma Jul 06 '21 at 09:30

score 38 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 21 '17 at 11:09

38

Use \n for a line break and \t if you want to insert a tab.

You can also use some XML tags for basic formatting:  for bold text,  for italics, and  for underlined text

More info:

https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/string-resource.html

edited Jul 21 '17 at 11:09

Vadim Kotov

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answered Dec 30 '12 at 15:14

Gridtestmail

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score 25 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 10 '15 at 07:28

Use \t to add tab and \n for new line, here is a simple example below.

<string name="list_with_tab_tag">\tbanana\torange\tblueberry\tmango</string>
<string name="sentence_with_new_line_tag">This is the first sentence\nThis is the second scentence\nThis is the third sentence</string>

score 17 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 20 '19 at 12:24

17

add this line at the top of string.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

and use

'\n'

from where you want to break your line.

ex. <string> Hello world. \n its awesome. <string>

Output:

Hello world.
its awesome.

answered Feb 20 '19 at 12:24

Ankit Saini

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How can I make two break lines? – jvargas Jun 10 '20 at 15:37
1

T wo break lines '\n\n' – Mohsin Falak Aug 26 '20 at 10:12
4

Kudos for including the encoding at the top – Blessing Charumbira Oct 16 '20 at 12:23

score 13 · Answer 6 · edited Mar 06 '17 at 10:28

13

You can use \n for new line and \t for tabs. Also, extra spaces/tabs are just copied the way you write them in Strings.xml so just give a couple of spaces where ever you want them.

A better way to reach this would probably be using padding/margin in your view xml and splitting up your long text in different strings in your string.xml

edited Mar 06 '17 at 10:28

aleksandrbel

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answered Dec 30 '12 at 15:05

Stefan de Bruijn

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Accept someone's answer if you're helped ;) – Stefan de Bruijn Dec 30 '12 at 15:15

Merthan Erdem · Answer 7 · 2021-07-08T09:16:19.243

8

\n doesn't seem to work for tools:text

You can use   to get a preview including line breaks, but it won't show up on the device unless you format the text using something like Html.fromHtml()

edited Jul 08 '21 at 09:16

answered Apr 08 '21 at 14:24

Merthan Erdem

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In the layout, you can see the \n to be visible but while running \n converts into a new line on the actual device and the
looks a new line in layout but in actual device it is visible as
– Simran Sharma Jul 06 '21 at 09:31
You are right, edited. Is \n seriously something that tools:text can't handle? – Merthan Erdem Jul 06 '21 at 18:49
Forget about `tools:text`, if you used \n for `android:text`, it would still be visible as \n in the layout preview on android studio. But when you run it on an actual device, the \n converts to a new line. – Simran Sharma Jul 08 '21 at 03:52

score 6 · Answer 8 · edited Sep 16 '21 at 13:50

6

for space use \t and for a new line use \n in your XML string, like

<string name="name">\tFirst Sentence\nSecond Sentence</string>

the output will be

    First Sentence
Second Sentence

edited Sep 16 '21 at 13:50

helvete

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answered Sep 15 '21 at 19:29

Muhammad Anas

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score 3 · Answer 9 · answered Dec 22 '16 at 04:29

3

Add '\t' for tab

<string name="tab">\u0009</string>

answered Dec 22 '16 at 04:29

Alireza Ghanbarinia

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score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Dec 26 '18 at 09:31

2

Include this line in your layout xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
Now , use \n for new line and \t for space like tab.
Example :

for \n : android:text="Welcome back ! \nPlease login to your account agilanbu"

for \t : android:text="Welcome back ! \tPlease login to your account agilanbu"

answered Dec 26 '18 at 09:31

How can I make two break lines? – jvargas Jun 10 '20 at 15:37
@jvargas make it \n\n – Simran Sharma Jul 06 '21 at 09:32

score 2 · Answer 11 · answered Jul 07 '21 at 08:13

2

Really all of the above did not work for me in Android Studio 4. What worked was:

<br>first line\n</br>second line

Note: Both \n and br-tags was needed.

answered Jul 07 '21 at 08:13

Ketobomb

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How do I make a new line or tab in XML?

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