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Erase character (ECH)
ESC [ N XECH replaces N characters at the cursor position with blank spaces. The sequence is
ESC [ N X (default N=1). Unlike delete (DCH), erase does not shift subsequent characters — it overwrites in place. The cursor position is not changed.
ECH is an in-place eraser: it blanks cells without shifting the rest of the row. That makes it different from DCH, which deletes and pulls later cells left. The distinction matters for editors and form UIs that clear a fixed-width field while leaving surrounding content exactly where it is.How this is testedautomated
Write "ABCDE", move to col 1, send
Write "ABCDE", move to col 1, send
\x1b[3X (ECH 3), verify first 3 cells are blank and "D" remains at col 3.The same probe runs against headless backends (via Termless) and real terminal apps (via a daemon launched in each terminal). This lets us distinguish parser correctness from rendering correctness.
Analysis2026-05-17
Supported by 12 of 14 backends (86%)
Terminal Applications
| Terminal | Version | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| iTerm2 | 3.6.9 | ✓ yes | |
| Ghostty | 1.3.1 | ✓ yes | |
| VS Code | ✓ yes | ||
| Warp | ✓ yes | ||
| Kitty | 0.46.2 | ✓ yes | |
| Cursor | ✓ yes | ||
| Terminal.app | ✓ yes |