HTS — Horizontal Tab Set (ESC H)

Set a tab stop at the current cursor column — partner to TBC.

Byte forms

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

\\x1b[\x1bH

\\033[\033H

\\e[\eH

ESC [ESC H

hex1b 48

Description

Two-byte ESC `H` sequence (no CSI introducer, no parameters). Places a tab stop at whichever column the cursor occupies right now. Pair with TBC (`\x1b[g` / `\x1b[3g`) which clears tab stops. Workflow: `printf '\033[3g'` to wipe the default 8-column grid, move the cursor to each desired column with HPA / CHA (`\x1b[Nd` / `\x1b[NG`) and emit `\x1bH` once per stop. After that, every `\t` (HT, 0x09) or `\x1b[NI` (CHT) advances to your custom layout. The terminfo capability for HTS is `hts`.

Spec citation: ECMA-48 §8.3.62 (HTS)

Examples

bash

printf '\033[3g'                # clear all\nprintf '\033[10G\033H\033[20G\033H'   # set tab stops at cols 10 and 20

python

import sys; sys.stdout.write('\x1bH')

fmt.Print("\x1bH")

javascript

process.stdout.write('\x1bH')

printf("\x1bH");

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

ESC cookbook · 2. Tab stops — `\x1bH` (HTS) sets, `\x1b[g` (TBC) clears