A "newline" is a special character or sequence of characters in computer programming and text processing that indicates the end of a line of text. It allows text to be organized into multiple lines, making it easier to read and manage. In many programming languages, a newline is represented by the escape sequence \\n. Newlines are essential in various applications, including text editors, programming languages, and data formats like JSON and CSV. They help structure data and improve readability by separating different pieces of information, such as paragraphs in a document or entries in a list.