Cursor Preceding Line (CPL)

The parameter n must be an integer greater than or equal to 1. If n is less than or equal to 0, adjust n to be 1. If n is omitted, n defaults to 1.

This sequence always unsets the pending wrap state.

CPL is exactly equivalent to Cursor Up (CUU) followed by Carriage Return (CR): first move the cursor up n rows respecting the top margin, then move the cursor to column 1 of that row.

If the current cursor position is at or below the top margin, the highest point the cursor can move to is the top margin. If the current cursor position is above the top margin, the highest point the cursor can move to is the first row of the screen. This sequence never triggers scrolling.

Note

CPL is the upward counterpart of CNL. It is sometimes referred to as Cursor Previous Line in other terminal references; the ECMA-48 name is Cursor Preceding Line. Both names refer to the same sequence (CSI Pn F).

printf "\033[1;1H" # move to top-left
printf "\033[0J" # clear screen
printf "\033[3;5H" # row 3, column 5
printf "A"
printf "\033[2F" # CPL up 2 lines, to column 1
printf "X"

|Xc________|
|__________|
|____A_____|

printf "\033[1;1H" # move to top-left
printf "\033[0J" # clear screen
printf "\033[3;5H" # row 3, column 5
printf "A"
printf "\033[F" # CPL with default (1)
printf "X"

|__________|
|Xc________|
|____A_____|

printf "\033[1;1H" # move to top-left
printf "\033[0J" # clear screen
printf "\n\n\n\n" # screen is 4 high
printf "\033[2;4r" # scroll region rows 2..4
printf "\033[3;5H"
printf "A"
printf "\033[500F" # CPL way past the top margin
printf "X"

|__________|
|Xc________|
|____A_____|
|__________|

cols=$(tput cols)
printf "\033[2;1H" # row 2, column 1
printf "\033[${cols}G" # move to last column
printf "A" # set pending wrap state
printf "\033[1F" # CPL cancels pending wrap
printf "X"

|Xc________|
|_________A|