cursor(2m)

NAME

cursor - Buffer's cursor visibility

SYNOPSIS

cursor Mode

C - mode line letter.

DESCRIPTION

When enabled the text cursor is drawn while the buffer is current, when disabled the cursor is hidden. cursor is enabled by default. As the mode is a property of the buffer, the cursor re-appears as soon as another buffer is made current; there is no need to restore the mode on leaving the buffer.

The mode is typically disabled by macros which draw their own display, see Metris(3) and Patience(3), where a flashing text cursor is a distraction.

The cursor is always drawn when MicroEmacs is prompting for input on the message line, regardless of the current buffer's cursor mode, so that the user can see what they are typing.

In a buffer created by ipipe-shell-command(2) the mode is set and cleared by the child process using the terminal sequences ESC [ ? 25 h and ESC [ ? 25 l respectively. A child which exits while the cursor is hidden leaves the mode disabled, exactly as it would leave a real terminal.

NOTES

Cursor hiding is not supported on all platforms and does nothing in NanoEmacs 2026.

SEE ALSO

Operating Modes, buffer-mode(2), global-mode(2), ipipe-shell-command(2), $cursor-blink(5).

Ref: cursor(2m) File: m2mod007.2 Date: 2026/08/13

(c) Copyright JASSPA 2026