Bell (BEL)

The purpose of the bell sequence is to raise the attention of the user.

Historically, this would ring a physical bell. Today, many alternate behaviors are acceptable:

• An audible sound can be played through the speakers
• Background or border of a window can visually flash
• The terminal window can come into focus or be put on top
• Application icon can bounce or otherwise draw attention
• A desktop notification can be shown

Normally, the bell behavior is configurable and can be disabled.

The BEL character is also a valid terminating character for OSC sequences, although ST is preferred. If BEL is the terminating character for an OSC sequence, any responses should also terminate with the BEL character.¹

This control character is not currently implemented in Ghostty, but can be used as an OSC terminator. If it is used as an OSC terminator, Ghostty will terminate any responses with the BEL character.

There is an open discussion about implementing the bell character in Ghostty and what that will look like.