# Tab Title, the Konsole Way (OSC 30)

> Set the title of Konsole's tab.

- **Sequence:** `OSC 30 ; Pt ST`
- **ECMA-48:** [§8.3.89 OSC – Operating System Command, p. 51](https://archive.org/details/ecma-48-5th-edition-june-1991/page/n64/mode/1up)
- **Specification:** [Session::SessionAttributes, Konsole's source](https://invent.kde.org/utilities/konsole/-/blob/a24c3d71be3684f24d030aa2dbe9bd723d985233/src/session/Session.h#L466-479)

`OSC 30 ; Pt ST` sets the title of the session's tab in Konsole to `Pt`,
which it calls the session name; [OSC 2](https://control-codes.page/osc/title/index.html.md) sets the window's. The
text replaces the tab's title format, the one Konsole's settings let a user
write, so its placeholders work in it too: `%d` for the current directory,
`%n` for the program running, `%u` for the user, and others
([`Session.cpp`](https://invent.kde.org/utilities/konsole/-/blob/a24c3d71be3684f24d030aa2dbe9bd723d985233/src/session/Session.cpp#L684-690)). A shell can put
`OSC 30 ; %d ST` in its prompt and leave Konsole to fill in the directory.

Konsole, KDE's terminal, has a few OSC numbers of its own. It documents
none of them, so the definition is its source: the numbers are listed in
[`Session::SessionAttributes`](https://invent.kde.org/utilities/konsole/-/blob/a24c3d71be3684f24d030aa2dbe9bd723d985233/src/session/Session.h#L466-479), and acted on in `Session::setSessionAttribute`. They are
[OSC 30](https://control-codes.page/osc/konsole-tab-title/index.html.md), [OSC 32](https://control-codes.page/osc/konsole-tab-icon/index.html.md) and [OSC 34](https://control-codes.page/osc/konsole-tab-color/index.html.md), with a profile change under
[OSC 50](https://control-codes.page/osc/font/index.html.md), and once [OSC 31](https://control-codes.page/osc/konsole-cwd/index.html.md).

xterm sets the number aside for Konsole and does nothing with it: its
list of OSC numbers names 30 and 31 *Konsole (unused)* ([`misc.c`](https://github.com/ThomasDickey/xterm-snapshots/blob/xterm-411a/misc.c#L3489-L3490)). libghostty-vt has no Konsole code, and ignores it too.

## Support

| Terminal | Version | Support | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| VT220 | [manual](https://vt100.net/docs/vt220-rm/), 2nd ed., 1984 | No | OSC is not among the controls it recognizes ([§4.2](https://vt100.net/docs/vt220-rm/chapter4.html#S4.2)) |
| VT510 | [manual](https://vt100.net/docs/vt510-rm/), 1st ed., 1993 | No | ignores an OSC string ([chapter 4](https://vt100.net/docs/vt510-rm/chapter4.html)) |
| xterm | patch 412, [xterm-411a](https://github.com/ThomasDickey/xterm-snapshots/tree/xterm-411a) | No | the number is set aside for Konsole, unused |
| libghostty-vt | [83edd49](https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/tree/83edd491e3024ae5e50393d62877b8897da1cccd) | No | ignored |
| Konsole | 26.11.70, [a24c3d71](https://invent.kde.org/utilities/konsole/-/tree/a24c3d71be3684f24d030aa2dbe9bd723d985233) | Yes | the tab title format, with placeholders such as `%d` |
| ConEmu | build 230724, its [documentation](https://conemu.github.io/en/AnsiEscapeCodes.html) | No | not in its [ANSI escape codes](https://conemu.github.io/en/AnsiEscapeCodes.html) |

## Validation

### OSC30-1: Not the window title

Input, one step per line:

```text
\e]30;tab\a
```

Expected screen:

```text
|___|
title ""
```

### OSC30-2: Nothing on screen

Input, one step per line:

```text
A
\e]30;%d\a
B
```

Expected screen:

```text
|AB_|
cursor 1,3
reply none
```

---

This is the Markdown version of <https://control-codes.page/osc/konsole-tab-title/>. 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>.