The spelling of "carriage return" can be confusing, but it can be better understood with the help of phonetics. According to IPA transcription, "carriage return" is pronounced as /ˈkærɪdʒ rɪˈtɜrn/. It starts with the /k/ sound, followed by the /ær/ sound, and ends with the /n/ sound. The double /r/ isn't pronounced separately and instead becomes part of the /ɹ/ sound. The word "return" is pronounced with the /ɪ/ sound instead of the /i:/, which can be misleading for some learners.
A carriage return is a typographic and computing term that refers to the action of moving the cursor or print head to the beginning of a new line or the leftmost position on a display device. This term originated from the early typewriter era, where a carriage (mechanism that held and moved the paper) needed to be returned to the starting position after typing each line.
In the context of modern computing, a carriage return is often associated with the ASCII control character, which is denoted as "CR" and has a decimal value of 13 or hexadecimal value 0x0D. This control character instructs the printer, display device, or computer terminal to move the cursor or print head to the beginning of the current line.
Carriage returns are commonly utilized to format text and documents, as they allow for the creation of new lines and line breaks. When typing or inputting text in various applications or programming languages, pressing the "Enter" or "Return" key on a keyboard produces a carriage return, resulting in the creation of a new line.
In programming, carriage returns play a crucial role in defining the structure and readability of the source code. They are used to separate statements or blocks of code, making the code more organized and easier to comprehend. Additionally, modern operating systems may interpret the carriage return character differently, depending on the platform, which can sometimes lead to compatibility issues when exchanging text files between different systems.
The term "carriage return" originated from the early days of typewriters. In mechanical typewriters, the carriage was a mechanism that held the paper and moved it horizontally as the user typed. After completing a line, the typist would press the "carriage return" key to manually move the carriage back to the beginning of the next line.
The term "carriage" refers to the mechanism that carried the paper horizontally, and "return" indicates the action of returning the carriage to its original position. The term has been extended to digital contexts, such as computers and word processing applications, where it signifies moving the cursor to the beginning of a new line.