Question

I want to emulate backspace in programming and implemented as below.

// del.cpp
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    cout << "123456";
    cout << "\b\b\b" /* backspace key */<< '\x7f' /* DEL key */ << '\x7f' << '\x7f';
    cout << endl;
    return 0;
}

But I get a result like this

How can I get a result just like below without the need of replacing the tails with blank space

123

That is to say how can I delete, rather than replace, those character after the cursor which has been backspaced.

Answer 1

Use the “clear to end of line” escape sequence, CSI K.

cout << "123456";
cout << "\b\b\b\033[K";
cout << endl;

For a list of escape sequences, see ANSI Escape Code (Wikipedia). Of course, not all of them will work on all terminals, but these days, with software terminals, I wouldn’t worry about it.