CHT/CBT

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Standard

CHT (Cursor Forward Tabulation) and CBT (Cursor Backward Tabulation) are CSI sequences that move the cursor forward or backward by a specified number of tab stops.

Syntax

CSI Pn I      CHT — Cursor Forward Tabulation
CSI Pn Z      CBT — Cursor Backward Tabulation

Formal syntax

CHT = 0x1b, "[", [ Pn ], "I" ;
CBT = 0x1b, "[", [ Pn ], "Z" ;
Pn  = digit, { digit } ;                (* default: 1 *)
digit = "0" | "1" | "2" | "3" | "4"
    | "5" | "6" | "7" | "8" | "9" ;

Parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
`Pn`	Number of tab stops to advance/retreat	1

Description

Per ECMA-48 §8.3.10 (CHT) and §8.3.7 (CBT):

CHT (CSI Pn I) — Moves the cursor to the Pn-th following tab stop. This is equivalent to pressing HT (0x09) Pn times, but expressed as a single sequence.
CBT (CSI Pn Z) — Moves the cursor to the Pn-th preceding tab stop.

Tab stops are set by HTS and cleared by TBC. The default tab stops are at every 8th column (1, 9, 17, 25, ...).

If there are fewer remaining tab stops than requested, the cursor moves to the last (or first, for CBT) column of the line.

Examples

printf '\e[2I'       # Move forward 2 tab stops
printf '\e[Z'        # Move backward 1 tab stop

Specifications

Specification	Section
ECMA-48	—

Terminal support

Terminal	Support	Version	Notes
Terminal Emulators
Alacritty	✓	0.15.0	CHT added in 0.15.0, CBT existed earlier (bug fix in 0.7.0)
Bobcat	✓	0.9.0	Supported via TerminalCtrl library
contour	✓	v0.1.0
foot	✓	Yes	CHT (I) at csi.c:1172-1189, CBT (Z) at csi.c:1191-1204
Ghostty	✓	v1.0.0
iTerm2	✓	Yes	VT100CSI_CHT and ANSICSI_CBT tokens parsed and executed via terminalAppendTabAtCursor and terminalBackTab
Kitty	✓	Yes	CHT/CBT (CSI I/Z) fully implemented in vt-parser.c:1213-1216
Konsole	✓	Yes	CHT (I), CBT (Z) implemented at src/Vt102Emulation.cpp:2132,2139
mintty	✓	Yes	CHT (CSI I) at line 3179-3181, CBT (CSI Z) at line 3465-3473
mlterm	✓	rel-2_9_0	Implemented at vt_parser.c:5639-5772
PuTTY	~	0.45	CBT (CSI Z) supported, CHT (CSI I) not implemented
Rio	✓	v0.0.3
rxvt-unicode	✓	1.2
st	✓	0.1
terminology	✓	v0.1.0
VT100	✗	No
VTE	✓	Yes	Fully implemented in vteseq.cc as CHT/CBT handlers
WezTerm	✓	Yes	CHT (ForwardTabulation) and CBT (BackwardTabulation) implemented as Cursor::ForwardTabulation and Cursor::BackwardTabulation
Windows Terminal	✓	Yes	Implemented in ITermDispatch.hpp:85-86 as ForwardTab (CHT) and BackwardsTab (CBT)
xterm	✓	xterm-406
xterm.js	✓	2.3.0
Multiplexers
cy	✓	v0.1.0
GNU Screen	✓	v.4.2.0
tmux	✓	1.6	CHT not found in code; CBT (CSI Z) implemented
tuios	✓	v0.0.15
Zellij	✓	v0.9.0

Syntax​

Parameters​

Description​

Examples​

Specifications​

Terminal support​

See also​