diff --git a/files/lineinfile b/files/lineinfile
index 82658cae654..e05652a1f9b 100644
--- a/files/lineinfile
+++ b/files/lineinfile
@@ -348,7 +348,11 @@ def main():
         if ins_bef is None and ins_aft is None:
             ins_aft = 'EOF'
 
-        present(module, dest, params['regexp'], params['line'],
+        # Replace the newline character with an actual newline. Don't replace
+		# escaped \\n, hence sub and not str.replace.
+        line = re.sub(r'\n', os.linesep, params['line'])
+
+        present(module, dest, params['regexp'], line,
                 ins_aft, ins_bef, create, backup, backrefs)
     else:
         if params['regexp'] is None and params.get('line', None) is None: