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Tab stops

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

HT (Horizontal Tab) advances the cursor to the next tab stop. Default tab stops are set every 8 columns. The tab character (0x09) does not produce visible output — it moves the cursor forward. Tab stops can be set with HTS and cleared with TBC.
How this is testedautomated
Write tab then "X", verify X appears at column 8 (after the default 8-column tab stop).

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