CSI CHA / HPA — Cursor Horizontal Absolute (column)

CHA (final 'G') moves the cursor to column Pn of the current row (default 1), without changing the row. HPA (final '`', backtick) is the format-effector twin with the same effect. Useful for column-aligning output without a full CUP.

frame

CSI introducer: \x1b[ ESC [ (0x1B 0x5B)

terminator (none): ST · BEL

parameters / subcommands

id	name	bytes (ST)	meaning
cha	CHA — Cursor Horizontal Absolute (G)	\x1b[10G	CSI Pn G moves the cursor to column Pn (1-based) of the current row. 'CSI G' goes to column 1.
hpa	HPA — Character Position Absolute (`)	\x1b[10`	CSI Pn ` is the format-effector twin of CHA; same effect (absolute column).

gotchas

Column is 1-BASED; column 1 is the leftmost cell.
Only the column changes; the row is preserved (unlike CUP which sets both).
Out-of-range columns clamp to the right margin.
HPA uses the backtick '`' (0x60) as its final byte — easy to typo as a quote; CHA's 'G' is the more common form.
There is a sibling VPA ('d') for absolute ROW positioning; CHA/HPA are column-only.

provenance

source: https://invisible-island.net/xterm/ctlseqs/ctlseqs.html
version: xterm ctlseqs, patch #410, 2026/04/19
retrieved: 2026-05-29 · updated: 2026-05-29T00:00:00Z

per-fact attribution:

#summary — https://invisible-island.net/xterm/ctlseqs/ctlseqs.html xterm ctlseqs: CSI Ps G = Cursor Character Absolute [column] (CHA); CSI Ps ` = Character Position Absolute [column] (HPA). Default Ps = 1.
ext.params — https://ecma-international.org/publications-and-standards/standards/ecma-48/ ECMA-48 defines CHA (final 'G') and HPA (final '`') as absolute column positioning, 1-based, default 1.

agent: curl -H 'accept: application/json' wire.phall.io/terminal-csi/cha or /terminal-csi/cha.json

CSI CHA / HPA — Cursor Horizontal Absolute (column)

frame

parameters / subcommands

gotchas

provenance

see also