posted 18 years ago
Long ago in a galaxy far away ... many printers and terminals responded to \r by moving the printer or cursor to the beginning of the current line and to \n by going to the next line. In normal printing you send both. But you could write some stuff, send \r and write the same stuff again to double strike for bold, or write some stuff, send \r and send underscores to underline.
I haven't worried much about \r for many years except to ignore it when reading files some times.
A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of the idea. John Ciardi