[Chapter 27] 27.4 Continuation Lines
Author: Bryan Costales & Eric Allman
Date: 1999-01-06T19:49:50Z

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| Chapter 27 The Configuration File |

## 27.4 Continuation Lines

A line that begins with either a tab or a space character is considered a continuation of the preceding line. Internally, such continuation lines are joined to the preceding line, and the newline character of that preceding line is retained. Thus, for example,

>     DZzoos
>            lions and bears

>     line begins with a tab character

is internally joined by sendmail to form

>     DZzoos\n lions and bears

>     newline and tab retained.

Both the newline (`\n`) and the tab are retained. When such a joined line is later used (as in a header), the joined line is split at the newline and prints as two separate lines again.

27.3 V8 Comments |  | 27.5 The V Configuration Command