Add solid/blink cursor toggle

[peterkos]

It'd be great if the cursor could have a solid mode that does not blink.

Sublime Text has a few options("smooth", "phase", "blink", "solid"), but it seems easiest just to do blink and solid.

[the-mikedavis]

I think this is a terminal option. For example, kitty has a cursor_blink_interval option that, when set to 0, disables blinking. Which terminal emulator are you using?

[NNBnh]

"blink" and "solid" cursor can be set by using ANSI escape code lkie:

echo -e -n "\x1b[\x30 q" # Blinking block
echo -e -n "\x1b[\x31 q" # Blinking block
echo -e -n "\x1b[\x32 q" # Steady block
echo -e -n "\x1b[\x33 q" # Blinking underline
echo -e -n "\x1b[\x34 q" # Steady underline
echo -e -n "\x1b[\x35 q" # Blinking bar
echo -e -n "\x1b[\x36 q" # Steady bar

But "smooth" and "phase" is impossible due to limitation of the terminal.

Maybe this will be imperment to the GUI forntend.

[peterkos]

I think this is a terminal option. For example, kitty has a cursor_blink_interval option that, when set to 0, disables blinking. Which terminal emulator are you using?

I use iTerm2 (3.4.15). Even with Blinking Cursor disabled it still blinks when resting.
(Also, curiously, the cursor shape of my iTerm setting gets overridden with the block cursor after quitting helix. Might be worth a separate bug report)

CleanShot.2022-04-09.at.17.08.34.mp4

[ChzenChzen]

I use Kitty(Mac OS) and my caret blinking is on, but when I open helix my caret blinking is off )).

[sudormrfbin]

Helix draws its own cursors since we need multiple cursors, hiding the terminal cursor.

[ChinmayMoghe]

Same issue I have faced is there a way to disable the animation ?

[eliasboegel]

I would like this too. The block cursor for me is indeed solid and non-flashing, but the bar cursor flashes (even when moving the cursor), making it hard to see its position sometimes when moving the cursor around.

[Tubbles]

(Also, curiously, the cursor shape of my iTerm setting gets overridden with the block cursor after quitting helix. Might be worth a separate bug report)

Noticed this as well so created a ticket #5364

[7ombie]

My Helix cursor never blinks (including at the command line, in the file picker etc - where the terminal cursor's color is reused by Helix). The cursor blinks correctly in zsh, outside of Helix. I'm using iTerm on macOS.

A couple of other people have reported the same issue (@ChzenChzen and @eliasboegel, also on macOS).

[7ombie]

There are now two bugs and a feature request in this issue.

There is a bug with cursors not blinking, another bug where the cursor is not properly reset when Helix exits, as well as a feature request for new cursor configuration options (re. blinking).

[Alacho2]

Just trying out Kitty and I came to say that the cursor is not blinking in Helix but blinking just fine in Vim. :)

[JonnieCache]

Also seeing a non-blinking cursor on ubuntu 24.04 using the builtin terminal. The cursor blinks correctly outside of helix, in the shell and in vim for example.

[hholst80]

There are now two bugs and a feature request in this issue.

There is a bug with cursors not blinking, another bug where the cursor is not properly reset when Helix exits, as well as a feature request for new cursor configuration options (re. blinking).

This is a workaround for restoring blinking (if this is what you have) after closing helix:

1. rename helix binary to hx.bin or put a executable called hx in your PATH before the actual hx binary. I have installed helix in /usr/local/bin because I made some patching of it.
2. put this wrapper script in your path. remember to make it executable by setting the execute bit (chmod 755 hx).

#!/bin/sh

hx.bin "$@"           # exec cannot be used because we need to run a cleanup echo after the call
echo -n -e "\e[?12h"  # Enable cursor blinking

Note that Neovim seems to have this exact issue too, so it could be reasonable to handle the fallback in the shell prompt.