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DECALN screen alignment (ESC # 8)

Category: reset · Tags: VT100 · Specification ↗

ESC # 8
DECALN (DEC Screen Alignment Test) fills the entire screen with the letter 'E'. The sequence is ESC # 8. Originally designed for service technicians to verify screen alignment on CRT displays, it is now primarily used as a quick way to fill the screen with known content for testing purposes. DECALN also resets scroll margins and moves the cursor to the home position (row 1, column 1).
How this is tested: Send \x1b#8 (DECALN), verify cell at (0,0) contains 'E'.

Supported by 3 of 14 backends (21%)

Terminal Applications

TerminalVersionSupportNotes
iTerm23.6.9? unknown
Ghostty1.3.1? unknown
Kitty0.46.2? unknown
VS Code1.113.0? unknown
Warp0.2026.03.18.08.24.03? unknown
Cursor2.6.21? unknown
Terminal.app2.15? unknown

Headless Backends

Parser correctness only — a means the parser accepts the sequence.

BackendVersionSupportNotes
Alacritty0.26.0✓ yes
WezTerm0.1.0-fork.5✓ yes
xterm.js5.5.0✓ yes
vt100.js0.2.1✗ noDECALN not implemented in vt100.js baseline emulator
vterm0.2.0✗ noDECALN not implemented in vterm.js