Is there go up line character? (Opposite of \n)

Question

I would like to overwrite something on a line above in in a serial console. Is there a character that allows me to move up?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Carriage return can be used to go to the beginning of line, and ANSI code ESC A ("\033[A") can bring you up a line. This works on Linux. It can work on Windows by using the colorama package to enable ANSI codes:

import time
import sys
import colorama

colorama.init()

print("Line 1")
time.sleep(1)
print("Line 2")
time.sleep(1)
print("Line 3 (no eol)", end="")
sys.stdout.flush()
time.sleep(1)
print("\rLine 3 the sequel")
time.sleep(1)
print("\033[ALine 3 the second sequel")
time.sleep(1)
print("\033[A\033[A\033[ALine 1 the sequel")
time.sleep(1)
print()  # skip two lines so that lines 2 and 3 don't get overwritten by the next console prompt
print()

Output:

> python3 multiline.py
Line 1 the sequel
Line 2
Line 3 the second sequel
>

Under the hood, colorama presumably enables Console Virtual Terminal Sequences using SetConsoleMode.