diff --git a/api/krusty/configmaps_test.go b/api/krusty/configmaps_test.go
index 7fa15ce46..c698b3e15 100644
--- a/api/krusty/configmaps_test.go
+++ b/api/krusty/configmaps_test.go
@@ -440,3 +440,40 @@ metadata:
   name: cm-o2-5k95kd76ft
 `)
 }
+
+func TestConfigMapGeneratorLiteralNewline(t *testing.T) {
+	th := kusttest_test.MakeHarness(t)
+	th.WriteK("/app", `
+generators:
+- configmaps.yaml
+`)
+	th.WriteF("/app/configmaps.yaml", `
+apiVersion: builtin
+kind: ConfigMapGenerator
+metadata:
+  name: testing
+literals:
+  - |
+    initial.txt=greetings
+    everyone
+  - |
+    final.txt=different
+    behavior
+---
+`)
+	m := th.Run("/app", th.MakeDefaultOptions())
+	th.AssertActualEqualsExpected(
+		m, `
+apiVersion: v1
+data:
+  final.txt: |
+    different
+    behavior
+  initial.txt: |
+    greetings
+    everyone
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: testing-tt4769fb52
+`)
+}
diff --git a/kyaml/kio/byteio_reader.go b/kyaml/kio/byteio_reader.go
index 8074b053d..f14f13bfa 100644
--- a/kyaml/kio/byteio_reader.go
+++ b/kyaml/kio/byteio_reader.go
@@ -149,6 +149,11 @@ func (r *ByteReader) Read() ([]*yaml.RNode, error) {
 
 	index := 0
 	for i := range values {
+		// the Split used above will eat the tail '\n' from each resource. This may affect the
+		// literal string value since '\n' is meaningful in it.
+		if i != len(values)-1 {
+			values[i] += "\n"
+		}
 		decoder := yaml.NewDecoder(bytes.NewBufferString(values[i]))
 		node, err := r.decode(index, decoder)
 		if err == io.EOF {