Features›Cursor

Cursor

Cursor control sequences for positioning, visibility, shape, and save/restore operations. Correct cursor handling is essential for TUI applications that need precise text placement. Differences in DECSC/DECRC behavior and cursor shape support are common sources of cross-terminal bugs. Cursor positioning was the breakthrough that made CRT terminals useful — before CUP (Cursor Position), teletypewriters could only print forward. The VT100's cursor addressing made screen-oriented editors like vi possible. Fun fact: DECSC (Save Cursor) saves not just position but also SGR attributes, character set state, origin mode, and autowrap — it's really "save everything about how text is being written." Many terminal bugs trace to applications assuming DECSC only saves position.

22 features in this category

Analysis2026-04-06

The Cursor category covers 22 features. Top performers (100%): xterm.js. Common gaps: CUP at screen boundaries (6 terminals fail), CUP with DECOM (5 terminals fail), ANSI save cursor (CSI s) (2 terminals fail).

Terminal Applications

Feature	iTerm2	Ghostty	VS Code	Warp	Cursor	Terminal.app
ANSI restore cursor (CSI u)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗
ANSI save cursor (CSI s)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗
CPL cursor preceding line (CSI F)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
CUD stops at bottom	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
CUP at screen boundaries	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓
CUP with DECOM	✗	✗	✓	✓	✓	✗
CUU stops at top	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Hide cursor (DECTCEM)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor horizontal absolute (CHA)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
HPA horizontal position absolute (CSI `)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor position (CUP)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor back (CUB)	✓	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗
Cursor down (CUD)	✓	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗
Cursor forward (CUF)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor home	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor up (CUU)	✓	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗
Cursor next line (CNL)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor position report (DSR 6)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Reverse Wrap (Mode 45)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Save/restore cursor (DECSC)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor shape (DECSCUSR)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
VPA vertical position absolute (CSI d)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

Headless Backends

Parser correctness tested via Termless. A ✓ means the parser accepts the sequence, not that it renders correctly.

Feature	vterm	xterm.js	Kitty	Alacritty	WezTerm	vt100.js
ANSI restore cursor (CSI u)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
ANSI save cursor (CSI s)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
CPL cursor preceding line (CSI F)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
CUD stops at bottom	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
CUP at screen boundaries	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓
CUP with DECOM	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗
CUU stops at top	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Hide cursor (DECTCEM)	✓	~	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor horizontal absolute (CHA)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
HPA horizontal position absolute (CSI `)	✗	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗
Cursor position (CUP)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor back (CUB)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor down (CUD)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor forward (CUF)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor home	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor up (CUU)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor next line (CNL)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor position report (DSR 6)	✓	~	~	~	~	✓
Reverse Wrap (Mode 45)	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	✓
Save/restore cursor (DECSC)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cursor shape (DECSCUSR)	✓	~	✓	✓	✓	✗
VPA vertical position absolute (CSI d)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

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