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

LF (0x0A) moves the cursor down one line. If the cursor is at the bottom of the scroll region, the content scrolls up and a blank line appears at the bottom. On most terminals, LF also performs an implicit carriage return (moves to column 1), though the VT100 specification treats LF as vertical movement only.
How this is testedautomated
Write "A\r\nB", verify A is at cell (0,0) and B is at cell (1,0).

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