DECCARA / DECRARA — Change / Reverse attributes in rectangular area (`CSI Pt;Pl;Pb;Pr;Ps;… $ r` / `$ t`)

Byte forms

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

Description

**DECCARA** — *Change Attributes in Rectangular Area* — and **DECRARA** — *Reverse Attributes in Rectangular Area* — round out the DEC rectangular-operation family (the others — DECCRA copy, DECFRA fill, DECERA erase, DECSERA selective erase — are documented in `dec-rect-ops`). **Geometry**: `Pt;Pl;Pb;Pr` are the rectangle's top row, left column, bottom row, right column (all 1-indexed, inclusive). The same rect-ops conventions from `decsace` apply — DECSACE selects whether 'rectangle' means strictly the cell-rectangle (block) or wraps line-by-line (stream). **Attribute list**: `Ps;…` is an SGR-style list of attribute selectors. The repertoire is DEC's reduced SGR set: `0` = clear all attributes, `1` = bold, `4` = underline, `5` = blink, `7` = reverse video, `22` = bold off, `24` = underline off, `25` = blink off, `27` = reverse off. Standard 8-color fg/bg (`30–37` / `40–47`) and ECMA-48 extended-color (`38;5;n`, `48;2;r;g;b`) are honoured by xterm-class emulators; pure DEC hardware ignored them. Empty `Ps;…` (just `\x1b[Pt;Pl;Pb;Pr$r`) is treated as `0` = clear. **Semantic difference**: - **DECCARA** ($ r) — *sets* the listed attributes on every cell. Unlisted attributes are LEFT UNCHANGED (it's not a full SGR overwrite — it's selective). To replace all attributes, lead with `0` then re-list (e.g. `\x1b[1;1;24;80;0;1;7$r` clears then applies bold + reverse). - **DECRARA** ($ t) — *XORs* the listed attributes on every cell. A cell that was bold becomes non-bold; one that wasn't becomes bold. Used by some screen renderers to implement a 'flash this region' UX without saving + restoring cell state. **No character data is touched** — both ops only modify the attribute layer at each cell. This is the killer feature: a diff highlighter can re-attribute a line block without retyping the chars, and a focus-mode TUI can dim the non-focused panes by XORing dim across them. **DECSACE coupling**: when DECSACE has selected stream-mode (`\x1b[2*x`), the same DECCARA / DECRARA call interprets `Pt;Pl` as a single stream-start position and `Pb;Pr` as a stream-end position — the affected cells are every cell between the two positions following normal text flow, not a block. Use `\x1b[0*x` (or omit) to keep block semantics. See `decsace`. **Coverage**: **xterm** = full both ops including extended colour. **Kitty** = full DECCARA, DECRARA partial. **WezTerm** / **Ghostty** = full. **Konsole** = full. **iTerm2** = partial (extended colour not honoured in DECCARA). **Alacritty** = no-op (silently consumed). **Windows Terminal** = no-op pre-1.20; partial DECCARA after. **macOS Terminal** / **Linux console** / **cmd / ConPTY** = no-op. **Recommended use**: yes for xterm-class emulators with explicit feature probe (DECRQM `?92` aka DECSACE — see `decsace`, plus `xtversion` for emulator family check). For portable code, simulate via DECCRA + write-with-SGR or by stream-mode SGR over the cells.

Spec citation: DEC VT510 RM (DECCARA / DECRARA) / xterm-ctlseqs (CSI ... $ r / $ t)

Parameters

Examples

# Set bold + reverse on rows 3-10, cols 5-30 without touching characters.\nprintf '\\033[3;5;10;30;0;1;7$r'

import sys\n# XOR underline on a one-line ribbon (rows 1, cols 1..80) — 'flash on'.\nsys.stdout.write('\\x1b[1;1;1;80;4$t')\nsys.stdout.flush()

// 'Dim non-focused panes' — XOR SGR 2 (dim) over the unselected region.\nfmt.Print(\"\\x1b[1;1;24;40;2$t\")     // dim left half\n// later, to undim, XOR again with same selector:\nfmt.Print(\"\\x1b[1;1;24;40;2$t\")

// Highlight diff hunk: reverse-video lines 12-15 across full width.\nprocess.stdout.write('\\x1b[12;1;15;80;7$r');

/* Replace all attrs in rect with red-on-default. */\nprintf(\"\\x1b[%d;%d;%d;%d;0;31$r\", t, l, b, r);

Terminal support

xterm

yes

Linux console (fbcon)

no

macOS Terminal.app

no

iTerm2

partial

Windows Terminal

partial

cmd.exe / ConPTY

no

kitty

partial

alacritty

no

WezTerm

yes

Ghostty

yes

GNOME Terminal

partial

Konsole

yes

tmux

no

GNU screen

no

Related sequences

• DECCRA / DECFRA / DECERA / DECSERA — Copy / Fill / Erase / Selective-erase rectangular area
• DECSACE — Select Attribute Change Extent (`CSI Ps * x`)
• DECSED / DECSEL — Selective erase display / line (CSI ? Ps J / CSI ? Ps K)
• SGR 0 — Reset / Normal