_rbanffy Author

Level 1

8 points

Will Apple support overline attribute (SGR 53)?

Is there any hint that Apple will implement an overline attribute on the Terminal.App application? It's a standardised ANSI terminal sequence (also known as SGR 53) supported by third-party terminals. Since Apple already has stellar support (not many terminals support double-width and double-height characters!) and passes the VT-100 torture test with flying colours.

It's also extremely useful for status lines - tmux supports the attribute if the terminal does and that allows it to have an overlined status line on the bottom of the screen.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 26.5

Posted on Jul 8, 2026 7:10 AM

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4 replies

Level 9

58,322 points

Jul 8, 2026 7:21 AM in response to _rbanffy

_rbanffy wrote:

Is there any hint that Apple will implement an overline attribute on the Terminal.App application?

No. Apple never hints.

You can file a bug report and request it as an enhancement.

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Jul 8, 2026 7:23 AM in response to _rbanffy

No one here would know Apple's plans for the future. You can let them know what you'd like to see here:

Product Feedback - Apple

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Level 10

127,420 points

Jul 8, 2026 9:55 AM in response to _rbanffy

Alternatively, you could use iTerm2 instead of Apple Terminal. The former supports the full ANSI SGR53/55 functionality.

Test:

printf '\e[53mOverlined text\e[55m\n'

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Level 10

127,420 points

Jul 8, 2026 10:24 AM in response to VikingOSX

I could not get overline to work in iTerm2 v3.6.11. Also note that DEC never implemented SGR53 or SGR55 in any VT terminal.

See VT Function List.

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Will Apple support overline attribute (SGR 53)?

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