DCH — Delete Character (CSI Pn P)

Delete N cells at the cursor and shift the rest of the line left to fill the gap — the inverse of ICH.

Byte forms

Every common string-literal form so you can paste-and-search either direction.

\\x1b[\x1b[PnP

\\033[\033[PnP

\\e[\e[PnP

ESC [ESC [ Pn P

hex1b 5b <Pn> 50

Description

Delete Character. Final byte `P` (0x50) removes `Pn` cells starting at the cursor (default 1) and shifts every cell to the right of that range left by `Pn` columns; the `Pn` cells that appear at the right edge are blank (SP, 0x20) with the current SGR background. The cursor itself does not move. DCH is what `vim`/`emacs` emit when you backspace mid-line, what `less` uses to remove the bottom-of-screen prompt, and the primitive readline edits the prompt with. Pair with ICH (`\x1b[Pn @`). DCH stops at the right margin set by DECSTBM column-margins (if active) — cells past the margin are not pulled in. Terminfo cap: `dch1` (Pn=1) or `dch` (parameterised).

Spec citation: ECMA-48 §8.3.26 (DCH)

Examples

bash

# Print 'Hello world', move cursor to column 6, delete 6 cells.\nprintf 'Hello world\033[6G\033[6P'   # leaves 'Hello' followed by trailing blanks

python

import sys; sys.stdout.write('\x1b[3P')

fmt.Print("\x1b[3P")

javascript

process.stdout.write('\x1b[3P')

printf("\x1b[3P");

Terminal support

xterm: yes
Linux console (fbcon): yes
macOS Terminal.app: yes
iTerm2: yes
Windows Terminal: yes
cmd.exe / ConPTY: partial
kitty: yes
alacritty: yes
WezTerm: yes
Ghostty: yes
GNOME Terminal: yes
Konsole: yes
tmux: no
GNU screen: no

xterm	Linux console (fbcon)	macOS Terminal.app	iTerm2	Windows Terminal	cmd.exe / ConPTY	kitty	alacritty	WezTerm	Ghostty	GNOME Terminal	Konsole	tmux	GNU screen
yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	partial	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no

Related sequences

In the family cookbook

CSI cookbook · 6. Insert / delete / cursor shape — IL / DL / ICH / DCH / ECH + DECSCUSR