HPA / HPR / VPR — Position absolute & relative (CSI ` / CSI a / CSI e)

Byte forms

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

Description

Three ECMA-48 cursor-positioning primitives that preserve the orthogonal axis — same shape as VPA (\x1b[<row>d) and CHA (\x1b[<col>G, slug cursor-column) but covering the gaps. HPA (\x1b[<col> ) Horizontal Position Absolute — move to absolute column <col> (1-based), keep current row. Semantically identical to CHA (G); final byte differs only because ECMA-48 § 8.3.57 (HPA) predates / parallels § 8.3.9 (CHA). **HPR** (\x1b[<n>a) Horizontal Position Relative — move n columns right, keep row. Same effect as CUF (\x1b[<n>C) but the final byte a distinguishes the ECMA-48-canonical form. **VPR** (\x1b[<n>e) Vertical Position Relative — move n rows down, keep column. Same as CUD (\x1b[<n>B) by final byte e. All three default to n=1 / col=1 when omitted; out-of-range values clamp to the visible region (or DECSTBM/DECSLRM region when those are active). In practice most modern code emits CHA/CUF/CUD/CUB instead — but every ECMA-48-conformant terminal accepts the HPA/HPR/VPR aliases, and curses' default capability table contains them, so any parser must recognize the alternative final bytes. The HPA backtick final byte is also the easiest of any CSI final to mistype — note it's 0x60, not apostrophe 0x27 (which would be DECIC / DECDC's intermediate byte).

Spec citation: ECMA-48 §8.3.57 (HPA) / §8.3.59 (HPR) / §8.3.160 (VPR)

Parameters

Examples

printf '\033[40`status: ok'   # HPA: jump to col 40, keep row (note backtick, not single quote)

import sys; sys.stdout.write('\x1b[5a')   # HPR: move 5 cols right

fmt.Print("\x1b[3e")   // VPR: move 3 rows down

process.stdout.write('\x1b[1`')   // HPA: column 1 (== CR but doesn't move row)

printf("\x1b[10a");   /* HPR: 10 cols right — same effect as \x1b[10C */

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

yes

GNU screen

yes

Related sequences

• VPA — Vertical line position absolute (CSI d)
• CHA — Cursor horizontal absolute (column)
• CUU / CUD / CUF / CUB — Move cursor
• CUP — Set cursor position