CNL / CPL — Cursor next / previous line

Move the cursor to column 1 of the line N below (CNL) or above (CPL).

Byte forms

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

\\x1b[\x1b[NE (down N lines, col 1) \x1b[NF (up)

\\033[\033[E / \033[F

\\e[\e[E / \e[F

ESC [ESC [ N E / F

hex1b 5b <N> 45 / 46

Description

Final byte `E` = CNL (Cursor Next Line), `F` = CPL (Cursor Previous Line). Both move N rows (defaulting to 1 if omitted) AND reset the column to 1 — unlike CUU/CUD which preserve the column. Equivalent to a CRLF for `E` if you don't care about scroll-region semantics, but CNL respects scrolling regions and never auto-scrolls past the bottom of the region.

Spec citation: ECMA-48 §8.3.13 (CNL) / §8.3.27 (CPL)

Examples

bash

printf 'top\n\033[2Ebottom-of-3rd-line-below\n'

python

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

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

javascript

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

printf("\x1b[3E");

Terminal support

xterm: yes
Linux console (fbcon): yes
macOS Terminal.app: yes
iTerm2: yes
Windows Terminal: yes
cmd.exe / ConPTY: yes
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	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no

Related sequences

In the family cookbook

CSI cookbook · 2. Cursor movement — CUU / CUD / CUF / CUB + CUP + CHA / VPA