I have a program that is supposed to add a '\n' to move down to the next line. However when I open the file that this is output to I see a square box where the new line should be. Why is this? And is there an alternative char I can use instead of \n for a new line?
For people to be able to help you, you will need to post the actual code that you are having problems with.
It probably means you used feof() in your control loop, and now you have (char)EOF stored in your file.
Read the FAQ on why feof() is bad in loops.
If you dance barefoot on the broken glass of undefined behaviour, you've got to expect the occasional cut.
If at first you don't succeed, try writing your phone number on the exam paper.
Windows is very picky (stupid) about newlines. Try placing \r\n instead of just \n.
A '\n' in C is really translated behind the scenes as mentioned above into a \r\n <control return line feed> on Windows. Your problem is the same that I can get a lot looking at textfiles made on a *nix system, where only \n's are used and all the newlines are little <unknown char> boxes. If you are only doing regular fopen with a "w" then the \n is translated behind the scenes, but with binary file I/O ("wb") then you will need to actually write the \r\n, along with things like WriteFile.
