IL/DL

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Standard

IL (Insert Line) and DL (Delete Line) are CSI sequences that insert or delete lines at the cursor's current row within the scrolling region.

Syntax

CSI Pn L      IL — Insert Line
CSI Pn M      DL — Delete Line

Formal syntax

IL = 0x1b, "[", [ Pn ], "L" ;
DL = 0x1b, "[", [ Pn ], "M" ;
Pn = digit, { digit } ;                 (* default: 1 *)
digit = "0" | "1" | "2" | "3" | "4"
    | "5" | "6" | "7" | "8" | "9" ;

Parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
`Pn`	Number of lines to insert or delete	1

Description

IL — Insert Line (CSI Pn L)

Per ECMA-48 §8.3.67, IL inserts Pn blank lines at the cursor's row. The current line and the lines below it within the scrolling region are shifted down. Lines pushed past the bottom margin of the scrolling region are lost. The cursor moves to column 1 of the current row.

DL — Delete Line (CSI Pn M)

Per ECMA-48 §8.3.32, DL removes Pn lines starting at the cursor's row. Lines below the deleted range within the scrolling region are shifted up, and blank lines are added at the bottom margin. The cursor moves to column 1 of the current row.

Both operations are confined to the scrolling region set by DECSTBM. Lines outside the scrolling region are not affected.

Examples

printf '\e[2L'       # Insert 2 blank lines at cursor row
printf '\e[3M'       # Delete 3 lines starting at cursor row

Specifications

Specification	Section
ECMA-48	—

Terminal support

Terminal	Support	Version	Notes
Terminal Emulators
Alacritty	✓	0.1.0	Implemented via insert_blank_lines/delete_lines methods
Bobcat	✓	0.9.0	Supported via TerminalCtrl library
contour	✓	v0.1.0
foot	✓	Yes	IL (L) at csi.c:1047-1065, DL (M) at csi.c:1067-1085
Ghostty	✓	v1.0.0
iTerm2	✓	Yes	XTERMCC_INSLN and XTERMCC_DELLN tokens parsed and executed via terminalInsertBlankLinesAfterCursor and terminalDeleteLinesAtCursor
Kitty	✓	Yes	IL/DL (CSI L/M) fully implemented in vt-parser.c:1224-1227
Konsole	✓	Yes	IL (L), DL (M) implemented at src/Vt102Emulation.cpp:2133-2134
mintty	✓	Yes	IL (CSI L) at line 3221-3228, DL (CSI M) at line 3229-3236
mlterm	✓	rel-2_9_0	IL at vt_parser.c:5685-5692, DL at 5693-5700
PuTTY	✓	0.45
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 IL/DL handlers
WezTerm	✓	Yes	IL (InsertLine) and DL (DeleteLine) implemented as Edit::InsertLine and Edit::DeleteLine
Windows Terminal	✓	Yes	Implemented in ITermDispatch.hpp:64-65 as InsertLine and DeleteLine
xterm	✓	xterm-406
xterm.js	✓	2.3.0
Multiplexers
cy	✓	v0.1.0
GNU Screen	✓	v.4.2.0
tmux	✓	1.6	IL (CSI L) and DL (CSI M) both implemented
tuios	✓	v0.0.15
Zellij	✓	v0.1.0-alpha

Syntax​

Parameters​

Description​

IL — Insert Line (CSI Pn L)​

DL — Delete Line (CSI Pn M)​

Examples​

Specifications​

Terminal support​

See also​