Understanding the Line Break ("<br>") Tag in HTML

In HTML, the <br> tag is used to insert a line break or carriage-return within a text, such as a paragraph. This tag is an 'empty' tag and does not need a closing tag. Typically, browsers will start a new line after encountering the <br> tag.

When we use <br>, it simply moves the text or elements that follow it to the next line. This can be quite handy when we want to create a break in a paragraph or any other block of text without having to start another paragraph using the <p> tag.

Let's take a practical example:

<p>This is a line of text. <br> This is a new line of text within the same paragraph.</p>

This HTML code output will be:

This is a line of text. 
This is a new line of text within the same paragraph.

Note that the <br> tag should be used appropriately and sparingly. Overuse of the <br> tag can result in untidy formatting and poor readability, as it does not provide any semantic information to the web page. If you want to break up text in a semantic way, it's often better to use other HTML elements such as headings (e.g., <h1>, <h2>, etc.), lists (e.g., <ul>, <ol>), or paragraphs (<p>).

Other tags like <lb>, <newline>, and <linebreak> mentioned in the question do not exist in the HTML standard and will be ignored by browsers if used. Hence, it's essential to use the correct tags and syntax in order to achieve the desired formatting and layout.

Understanding the Line Break ("<br>") Tag in HTML

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