# Whitespace control

Every line of code in a Liquid template produces an LF character at the end of a line. This applies also to lines that don't produce any text.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Controlling whitespace characters, especially newline characters, is crucial in the CSV format.
{% endhint %}

You can include a hyphen in your tag syntax `{{-`, `-}}`, `{%-`, and `-%}` to strip whitespace from the left or right side of a rendered tag.

{% hint style="info" %}
Placing a hyphen in the opening tag `{{-` or `{%-` removes also a newline character at the one of a previous line.
{% endhint %}

For example:

{% code title="Liquid Code" %}

```
{% for item in order.line_items %}
{{ item.title }}
{% endfor %}
```

{% endcode %}

produces the following output (assuming that the `order` contains two line items, a Cap and a T-Shirt):

{% code title="Output" %}

```

Cap

T-Shirt

```

{% endcode %}

Add hyphens to the for-loop tags will remove the empty lines.

{% code title="Liquid Code" %}

```
{%- foritem in order.line_items %}
{{ item.title }}
{%- endfor %}
```

{% endcode %}

{% code title="Output" %}

```
T-Shirt
Cap
```

{% endcode %}

You could place hyphens at the end of the control tags as well to get the same result.

{% code title="Liquid Code" %}

```
{% for item in order.line_items -%}
{{ item.title }}
{% endfor -%}
```

{% endcode %}

However, adding hyphens at both sides of the for-loop tags would also remove line separators between subsequent items reducing the output to one line.

{% code title="Liquid Code" %}

```
{%- for item in order.line_items -%}
{{ item.title }}
{%- endfor -%}
```

{% endcode %}

{% code title="Output" %}

```
T-ShirtCap
```

{% endcode %}