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about:config options for newline

  • 6 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 25 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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When posting on vBulletin forums, Firefox (116.0.2 on Windows 10) inserts and extra line upon pressing the Enter key. The fix for this is reported on the 'Net to be to alter variables in about:config.

I've attached a screenshot of settings on my system as reported by about:config. My questions are . . . 1) What, exactly, does the bottom line in screenshot mean? If I display All in about:config I find no Newline entry? What effect, if any, does changing values among the choices do? Do they affect the other settings? How? 2) What effect do the other 2 settings as shown have on entries typed in Firefox? 3) Are there changes that I should make in the top 2 variables that will stop the extra line insertion?

TIA

When posting on vBulletin forums, Firefox (116.0.2 on Windows 10) inserts and extra line upon pressing the Enter key. The fix for this is reported on the 'Net to be to alter variables in about:config. I've attached a screenshot of settings on my system as reported by about:config. My questions are . . . 1) What, exactly, does the bottom line in screenshot mean? If I display All in about:config I find no Newline entry? What effect, if any, does changing values among the choices do? Do they affect the other settings? How? 2) What effect do the other 2 settings as shown have on entries typed in Firefox? 3) Are there changes that I should make in the top 2 variables that will stop the extra line insertion? TIA
Attached screenshots

All Replies (6)

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That default_newlines pref is no longer supported (112+) and its behavior defaults to a DIV. You now need to use Shift + Enter to get a new line (<br>).

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OK. I understand that the second variable has been deprecated, but why does it remain in about:config?

Can you speak to the first variable settings? Are there values that can be set that will accomplish the goal of having firefox go to a new line on a single enter key press and enter a blank line and go to a new line on a double enter key press?

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This pref is only in about:config because you modified it from the default value and in such a case it is stored in prefs,js in the profile folder and not removed automatically. You can see that it has a trashcan at the far right indicating that this is a user created pref that possibly isn't supported and you can click this icon to remove this pref.

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Thanks, Cor-el.

Still no comment on the first variable?

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Here is the explanation of the first preference from the source code. Doesn't seem relevant to your issue:

# How line breakers are treated in single line editor:
# * 0: Only remove the leading and trailing newlines.
# * 1: Remove the first newline and all characters following it.
# * 2: Replace newlines with spaces (default of Firefox).
# * 3: Remove newlines from the string.
# * 4: Replace newlines with commas (default of Thunderbird).
# * 5: Collapse newlines and surrounding white space characters and
#      remove them from the string.
# Other values are treated as 1.
- name: editor.singleLine.pasteNewlines
  type: int32_t
  value: 2
  mirror: always
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As its name says, editor.singleLine.pasteNewlines is only about pasting text that possibly contains newline characters in a single line input field. A multi-line text area does support newline characters, but a single line doesn't and this pref sets how to behave in this case. This has nothing to do with typing text in a multi-line text area and how to interpret the Enter key.