Cursor

The cursor is the active write position. Programs move it explicitly; characters output advance it implicitly.

Position

The cursor has a (row, column) position, 1-indexed. (1, 1) is the top-left of the active region.

• Move absolute: CUP — CSI <r>;<c> H
• Move relative: CUU / CUD / CUF / CUB — A/B/C/D
• Save / restore: DECSC / DECRC — ESC 7 / ESC 8

Style

Selectable per program:

• block — the default, fills the cell.
• underline — a line at the cell baseline.
• beam — a thin vertical line on the left edge.

Set with DECSCUSR — CSI <n> SP q. User defaults via the cursor-style config key.

Blink

Each style has a blinking and a steady variant. DECSCUSR encodes both into the same parameter.

<n>	Style
0, 1	Block, blinking
2	Block, steady
3	Underline, blinking
4	Underline, steady
5	Beam, blinking
6	Beam, steady

Visibility

Show / hide with DEC private modes ?25h / ?25l. Hidden cursor is common in TUIs that draw their own.

Origin mode

DECOM (?6) makes CUP positions relative to the active scrolling region. Off by default.

See also

• Cursor and Mouse
• CSI cursor commands