Does the line-ending format of robots.txt matter?

Question

Simple question: Should I make sure to use Unix line endings for my robots.txt, or does it not matter?

Answer 1

It doesn't matter. According to the spec:

The file consists of one or more records separated by one or more blank lines (terminated by CR,CR/NL, or NL).

• CR = Carriage Return (i.e. \r)
• CR/NL = Carriage Return/New Line (i.e. \r\n)
• NL = New Line (i.e. \n)

This means you can use \r. \n, or \r\n and it will work.