VPA/HPA

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Standard

VPA (Line Position Absolute) and HPA (Character Position Absolute) are CSI sequences that set the cursor's row or column independently without affecting the other coordinate.

Syntax

CSI Pn d      VPA — Line Position Absolute (set row)
CSI Pn `      HPA — Character Position Absolute (set column)

Formal syntax

VPA = 0x1b, "[", [ Pn ], "d" ;
HPA = 0x1b, "[", [ Pn ], 0x60 ;         (* 0x60 = backtick *)
Pn  = digit, { digit } ;                (* default: 1 *)
digit = "0" | "1" | "2" | "3" | "4"
    | "5" | "6" | "7" | "8" | "9" ;

Parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
`Pn`	Line (VPA) or column (HPA) number	1

Description

Per ECMA-48 §8.3.158 (VPA) and §8.3.57 (HPA):

VPA (CSI Pn d) — Moves the cursor to line Pn without changing the column. This is the vertical equivalent of CHA.
HPA (CSI Pn \``) — Moves the cursor to character position Pn without changing the row. Functionally identical to CHA (CSI Pn G`).

Positions are 1-based. Values exceeding the screen dimensions are clamped.

note

HPA and CHA are functionally equivalent in practice — both set the column. The distinction in ECMA-48 is that HPA operates on the data component while CHA operates on the presentation component, but this difference is not meaningful in modern terminal emulators.

Examples

printf '\e[5d'       # Move to row 5, keep current column
printf '\e[10`'      # Move to column 10, keep current row

Specifications

Specification	Section
ECMA-48	—

Terminal support

Terminal	Support	Version	Notes
Terminal Emulators
Alacritty	✓	0.1.0	Supported via goto_line and goto_col methods
Bobcat	✓	0.9.0	Supported via TerminalCtrl library
contour	✓	v0.1.0
foot	✓	Yes	VPA (d) at csi.c:878-884, HPA (G/`) at csi.c:946-952
Ghostty	✓	v1.0.0
iTerm2	✓	Yes	ANSICSI_VPA and ANSICSI_CHA tokens parsed and executed via terminalSetCursorY and terminalSetCursorX
Kitty	✓	Yes	VPA/HPA (CSI d/`) fully implemented in vt-parser.c:1208-1212
Konsole	✓	Yes	VPA (d), HPA (`) implemented at src/Vt102Emulation.cpp:2148,2122
mintty	✓	Yes	VPA (CSI d) at line 3171-3174, HPA (CSI `) at line 3165-3170
mlterm	✓	rel-2_9_0	VPA at vt_parser.c:5794-5801, HPA at vt_parser.c:5616-5626
PuTTY	✓	0.45
Rio	✓	v0.0.3
rxvt-unicode	✓	1.2
st	✓	0.1
terminology	✓	v0.1.0	HPA is handled via CHA handler
VT100	✗	No
VTE	✓	Yes	Fully implemented in vteseq.cc as VPA/HPA handlers
WezTerm	✓	Yes	VPA (LinePositionAbsolute) and HPA (CharacterPositionAbsolute) implemented as Cursor::LinePositionAbsolute and Cursor::CharacterPositionAbsolute
Windows Terminal	✓	Yes	VPA at ITermDispatch.hpp:48, HPA/CHA at line 47. Both absolute positioning methods implemented.
xterm	✓	xterm-406
xterm.js	✓	2.3.0
Multiplexers
cy	✓	v0.1.0
GNU Screen	✓	v.4.2.0
tmux	✓	2.9	VPA (CSI d) in 1.6; HPA with backtick (CSI `) added in 2.9
tuios	✓	v0.0.15
Zellij	✓	v0.9.0	VPA (CSI d) added in v0.1.0-alpha, HPA (CSI `) added in v0.9.0

Syntax​

Parameters​

Description​

Examples​

Specifications​

Terminal support​

See also​