The
DEC VT100 was the first
ANSI X3.64 standard compliant
terminal ever. Released in
1978, the VT100 was powered by an
Intel 8085 microprocessor and weighed 41 pounds. Like a primordial
iMac, the unit consisted of a bulky monitor case that housed the logic board, plus a detached keyboard. The VT100 allowed one to connect to the outside world at speeds as low as 75
bps all the way up to 19200
bps.
While the VT100 was capable of understanding the DEC VT52 control codes, the new VT100 ANSI sequences became much more widely supported. Since the VT100, almost all terminals and terminal emulation programs handle the base VT100 ANSI control sequences.
The following is a summary of the most important control sequences. ESC represents the escape character, 0x1B, and spaces are added for clarity and are not part of the sequences.
Cursor Movement Commands
Cursor up ESC [ n A
Cursor down ESC [ n B
Cursor forward (right) ESC [ n C
Cursor backward (left) ESC [ n D
Direct cursor addressing ESC [ y ; x H or
ESC [ y ; x f
Save cursor & attributes ESC 7
Restore cursor & attributes ESC 8
n is replaced by the number of positions to move. y and x represent the line and column number to move to.
Line Size (Double-Height and Double-Width) Commands
Line to double-height top half ESC # 3
Line to double-height bottom half ESC # 4
Line to single-width single-height ESC # 5
Line to double-width single-height ESC # 6
Character Attributes
Set current attribute ESC [ a;a;a;...;a m
The a characters refers to a selective parameter. Multiple parameters are separated by the semicolon character. The parameters are executed in order and have the following meanings:
0 or None All Attributes Off
1 Bold on
4 Underscore on
5 Blink on
7 Reverse video on
Erasing
To end of line ESC [ K or
ESC [ 0 K
From beginning of line ESC [ 1 K
Entire line ESC [ 2 K
To end of screen ESC [ J or
ESC [ 0 J
From beginning of screen ESC [ 1 J
Entire screen ESC [ 2 J
Character Sets (G0 and G1 Designators)
The G0 and G1 character sets are designated as follows:
Character set G0 designator G1 designator
United Kingdom (UK) ESC ( A ESC ) A
United States (USASCII) ESC ( B ESC ) B
Special graphics characters ESC ( 0 ESC ) 0
and line drawing set
Alternate character ROM ESC ( 1 ESC ) 1
Alternate character ROM ESC ( 2 ESC ) 2
special graphics characters
Scrolling Region
Set scrolling region ESC [ t ; b r
t is the number of the top line of the scrolling region; b is the number of the bottom line of the scrolling region and must be greater than t.
Tab Stops
Set tab at current column ESC H
Clear tab at current column ESC [ g or ESC [ 0 g
Clear all tabs ESC [ 3 g
Modes
Mode Name To Set To Reset
Line feed/new line New line ESC [20h Line feed ESC [20l
Cursor key mode Application ESC [?1h Cursor ESC [?1l
ANSI/VT52 mode ESC [?2l
Column mode 132 Col ESC [?3h 80 Col ESC [?3l
Scrolling mode Smooth ESC [?4h Jump ESC [?4l
Screen mode Reverse ESC [?5h Normal ESC [?5l
Origin mode Relative ESC [?6h Absolute ESC [?6l
Wraparound On ESC [?7h Off ESC [?7l
Auto repeat On ESC [?8h Off ESC [?8l
Interlace On ESC [?9h Off ESC [?9l
Keypad mode Application ESC = Numeric ESC >
Reset
Reset causes the power-up reset routine to be executed.
Reset ESC c