Appearance
Next line (NEL)
Category: text · Baseline: core · Tags: ECMA-48 Standard, VT100 · Specification ↗
NEL (Next Line) moves the cursor to the beginning of the next line. The sequence is
ESC E. Equivalent to a carriage return followed by a line feed (CR + LF). If the cursor is at the bottom margin, the content scrolls up.
NEL is a single control for the CR+LF combination. It reflects the standard's attempt to describe character-imaging devices more generally than Unix line feeds. Many applications just emit CR and LF directly, but NEL support matters for standards-complete parsers and software that targets 8-bit control environments.How this is testedautomated
Write "ABC" then send
Write "ABC" then send
\x1bE (NEL), verify cursor is at row 1, col 0.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 all 12 tested terminals — universal adoption. Part of the Core TUI baseline.
Supported by 13 of 14 backends (93%)
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 |