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Carriage return

Category: text · Baseline: core · Tags: ECMA-48 Standard, VT100 · Specification ↗

CR (0x0D) moves the cursor to the beginning of the current line without advancing to the next line. Used in combination with LF for line endings, and on its own for overwriting the current line (e.g., progress bars).
How this is testedautomated
Write "AB\rC", verify C overwrote A at col 0 while B remains at col 1.

The same probe runs against headless backends (via Termless) and real terminal apps (via a daemon launched in each terminal). This lets us distinguish parser correctness from rendering correctness.

Analysis2026-04-06

Supported by all 12 tested terminals — universal adoption. Part of the Core TUI baseline.

Supported by 13 of 14 backends (93%)

Terminal Applications

TerminalVersionSupportNotes
iTerm23.6.9✓ yes
Ghostty1.3.1✓ yes
VS Code✓ yes
Warp✓ yes
Cursor✓ yes
Terminal.app✓ yes

Headless Backends

Parser correctness only — a means the parser accepts the sequence.

BackendVersionSupportNotes
Alacritty0.26.0✓ yes
Kitty0.40.0✓ yes
vt100.js0.2.1✓ yes
vterm0.2.0✓ yes
WezTerm0.1.0-fork.5✓ yes
xterm.js5.5.0✓ yes