# Line Position Absolute (VPA)

> Move the cursor to line n, keeping its column.

- **Sequence:** `CSI Pn d`
- **Defaults:** Pn = 1
- **ECMA-48:** [§8.3.158 VPA – Line Position Absolute, p. 74](https://archive.org/details/ecma-48-5th-edition-june-1991/page/n87/mode/1up)
- **VT510:** [VPA—Vertical Line Position Absolute](https://vt100.net/docs/vt510-rm/VPA.html)

Move the cursor to line `Pn`, counting from 1, keeping its column. A `0` is
taken as `1`. The VT510 manual says that an attempt to move below the last
line stops on the last line.

It is the vertical counterpart of [HPA](https://control-codes.page/csi/hpa/index.html.md), and like HPA, ECMA-48
defines it for the *data* component, which a terminal does not have apart
from its screen (§6, p. 14). The relative forms are [VPR](https://control-codes.page/csi/vpr/index.html.md) and
[VPB](https://control-codes.page/csi/vpb/index.html.md), and [CUP](https://control-codes.page/csi/cup/index.html.md) sets the line and column together.

The VT510 manual's one-line summary of VPA is a copying error, as it is for
HPA, and so is its "Parameters" entry, which calls `Pn` a column number. The
description beneath them is the right one.

## Validation

### VPA-1: To a line, keeping the column

Input, one step per line:

```text
\e[1;3H
\e[3d
X
```

Expected screen:

```text
|_____|
|_____|
|__X__|
```

### VPA-2: To the first line by default

Input, one step per line:

```text
\e[3;2H
\e[d
X
```

Expected screen:

```text
|_X___|
|_____|
|_____|
```

### VPA-3: Stops at the last line

Input, one step per line:

```text
\e[1;4H
\e[99d
X
```

Expected screen:

```text
|_____|
|_____|
|___X_|
```

---

This is the Markdown version of <https://control-codes.page/csi/vpa/>. On that page every validation case runs live in libghostty-vt, the terminal emulation core of Ghostty, compiled to WebAssembly.

The validation cases are written in the notation described in <https://control-codes.page/notation/index.html.md>.