Save / Restore Cursor — DECSC/DECRC (ESC 7/8) and SCOSC/SCORC (CSI s/u)

Two families save and restore the cursor. The DEC pair ESC 7 (DECSC) saves and ESC 8 (DECRC) restores the cursor POSITION plus attributes (SGR, charset, origin-mode, wrap state). The ANSI.SYS / SCO pair CSI s (SCOSC) and CSI u (SCORC) save/restore only the cursor position. They use different save slots and should not be mixed.

aka: DECSC · DECRC · SCOSC · SCORC · save cursor · restore cursor · ESC 7 · ESC 8 · CSI s · CSI u

frame

ESC introducer: \x1b ESC (0x1B) for the DEC pair; ESC [ (0x1B 0x5B) for the CSI pair

terminator (none): ST · BEL

parameters / subcommands

id	name	bytes (ST)	meaning
decsc	DECSC — Save Cursor (ESC 7)	\x1b7	ESC 7 saves the cursor position AND the full graphic state: SGR attributes, selected character set (G0..G3 / GL/GR), origin mode, and the autowrap pending flag.
decrc	DECRC — Restore Cursor (ESC 8)	\x1b8	ESC 8 restores everything DECSC saved. If nothing was saved, it homes the cursor and resets attributes.
scosc	SCOSC — Save Cursor (CSI s)	\x1b[s	CSI s (ANSI.SYS / SCO) saves only the cursor POSITION (no attributes). Uses a separate save slot from DECSC.
scorc	SCORC — Restore Cursor (CSI u)	\x1b[u	CSI u restores the position saved by CSI s.

gotchas

ESC 7/8 (DECSC/DECRC) save/restore the FULL graphic state (SGR, charset, origin, wrap); CSI s/u (SCOSC/SCORC) save ONLY the position — do not assume equivalence.
The two families use SEPARATE save slots; saving with ESC 7 and restoring with CSI u (or vice versa) does not work.
CSI s is ambiguous: with parameters 'CSI Pl ; Pr s' it is DECSLRM (set left/right margins) when DECLRMM is enabled. Bare 'CSI s' is the save-cursor.
Restoring without a prior save typically homes the cursor; behavior across terminals varies, so always pair save/restore.
DECSET 1048 provides save/restore-cursor tied to alternate-screen switching; prefer it when entering/leaving the alt buffer.

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: ESC 7 = Save Cursor (DECSC) saves cursor position, character attributes, charset, and wrap flag; ESC 8 = Restore Cursor (DECRC). CSI s = Save Cursor (SCOSC, ANSI.SYS); CSI u = Restore Cursor (SCORC).
ext.params — https://vt100.net/docs/vt510-rm/DECSC.html DEC VT510 manual: DECSC (ESC 7) saves cursor position, graphic rendition, character set, and origin/wrap state; DECRC (ESC 8) restores them.

Save / Restore Cursor — DECSC/DECRC (ESC 7/8) and SCOSC/SCORC (CSI s/u)

frame

parameters / subcommands

gotchas

provenance

see also