[tex-eplain] Can't use nor define my own "newlinechar"

[Karl Berry]

Hi Terry,

    I'm trying to use \newlinechar, a documented feature of eplain

FYI, \newlinechar is a primitive parameter in TeX (the program).

    (I realize I can use \obeylines\break but I'd like to avoid the typing!)

\newlinechar has nothing to do with \obeylines and won't save you any
typing. I suggest rereading The TeXbook et al.

    The thing is, the *eplain* documentation says this is ALREADY defined as
    ^^J, but it's not.

Yes it is.

\input eplain
\message{foo^^Jbar}
\end

Outputs on the terminal:
foo
bar

That is, with a newline in the output resulting from the ^^J in the input.
(That's three ASCII characters: ^, ^, and J.)

It won't happen with just plain. There, because \newlinechar=-1,
the output will be the same as the input:
foo^^Jbar

As Laurence says, \newlinechar is relevant mainly/entirely to
\message and \write. --best, karl.