OSC 0 — Set icon name and window title

OSC 0 ; text ST sets BOTH the terminal window title and the icon name (legacy X11 icon-name concept) to text. Written ESC ] 0 ; text ST (ST = ESC \, BEL also accepted). The most widely supported of the title-setting OSCs.

terminal-osc kind control-sequence status de-facto verification verified tier B terminal-escape@1

frame

OSC introducer: \x1b] ESC ] (0x1B 0x5D)

terminator (ST|BEL): ST \x1b\ · BEL \x07

parameters / subcommands

id	name	bytes (ST)	meaning
set	Set icon name and window title	\x1b]0;mytitle\x1b\	OSC 0 ; Pt ST sets both the window title and the X11 icon name to the string Pt. On modern terminals the icon-name concept is vestigial, so OSC 0 effectively just sets the window/tab title.

gotchas

OSC 0 sets BOTH window title AND icon name; use OSC 2 for window title only, OSC 1 for icon name only.
The title string Pt must not contain control characters; in particular a BEL or ESC in the title will terminate the sequence early.
Some multiplexers (tmux, screen) intercept and may rewrite or pass through title sequences depending on configuration (e.g. tmux 'set-titles').
There is no query form for OSC 0/1/2 in xterm by default; title reporting is gated behind the 'allowWindowOps'/'disallowedWindowOps' resources for security reasons.

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 'Operating System Commands': Ps = 0 -> Change Icon Name and Window Title to Pt.

agent: curl -H 'accept: application/json' wire.phall.io/terminal-osc/0 or /terminal-osc/0.json

OSC 0 — Set icon name and window title

frame

parameters / subcommands

gotchas

provenance

see also