DECTCEM 25 — Show / hide text cursor

CSI ? 25 h makes the text cursor visible; CSI ? 25 l hides it. Standardized as DECTCEM (DEC Text Cursor Enable Mode). TUIs hide the cursor while redrawing the screen to avoid a flickering caret, then show it again on exit.

aka: show cursor · hide cursor · DECTCEM · cursor visibility · ?25h / ?25l · civis/cnorm

frame

DEC-private-mode introducer: \x1b[? ESC [ ? (0x1B 0x5B 0x3F)

terminator (none): ST · BEL

parameters / subcommands

id	name	bytes (ST)	meaning
set	Show cursor (DECSET)	\x1b[?25h	CSI ? 25 h makes the text cursor visible (the default state).
reset	Hide cursor (DECRST)	\x1b[?25l	CSI ? 25 l hides the text cursor. Used by TUIs during screen redraws to prevent caret flicker.

gotchas

ALWAYS restore the cursor (\x1b[?25h) on exit and on signal handlers; a program that hides the cursor and crashes leaves the user with an invisible caret until they run 'reset' or 'tput cnorm'.
terminfo names these civis (hide, vi) and cnorm (normal/show, ve); ncurses uses them. There is also cvvis (very visible) which is a different capability.
Hiding the cursor does not move or change it — show restores it at whatever position it was last placed. Cursor SHAPE/blink is a separate control (DECSCUSR, CSI Ps SP q), not mode 25.
This mode is widely supported even on minimal terminals; it is one of the safest DEC private modes to rely on.

provenance

source: https://invisible-island.net/xterm/ctlseqs/ctlseqs.html
version: xterm ctlseqs, patch #410, 2026/04/19
retrieved: 2026-05-29 · updated: 2026-05-29T00:00:00Z

per-fact attribution:

#summary — https://invisible-island.net/xterm/ctlseqs/ctlseqs.html xterm ctlseqs 'DEC Private Mode Set (DECSET)': Ps = 2 5 -> Show cursor (DECTCEM). Reset (CSI ? 25 l) hides the cursor.

DECTCEM 25 — Show / hide text cursor

frame

parameters / subcommands

gotchas

provenance

see also