BS — Backspace

Byte	0x08
Mnemonic	BS
Otty support	✓

Description

Moves the cursor one cell to the left. Does not erase the cell underneath — to delete, follow with a space then another BS, or use DCH.

At column 1, BS has no effect (no wrap). The 0x08 byte is what Ctrl-H produces, which is why many TUIs treat Ctrl-H and Backspace identically.

Example

printf 'abc\b\b!'        # writes "abc", backs up two cells, overwrites with "!"
                          # result: "a!c" (yes, the c remains — BS doesn't erase)

Related

• DEL — the byte that most modern keyboards send for Backspace.
• DCH — actually delete characters.