newline in macro recording

Question

Let's say I record a macro n that generates the following text:

1
2

When I ask for the content with "np it outputs:

i1^M2^M^[

So I append in .vimrc file:

let @n = 'i1^M2^M^['

if I save .vimrc and then I call it with @n in a new file, it outputs the string above literally.....

How should I represent the newline key in configuration file?

Answer 1

The solution I've found is:

let @n = "i1\n2\n\e"

however the following does not work:

let @n = 'i1\n2\n\e'