diff --git a/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/IVT100EmulatorBackend.java b/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/IVT100EmulatorBackend.java
index c835bb817c4..1323f3a1f35 100644
--- a/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/IVT100EmulatorBackend.java
+++ b/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/IVT100EmulatorBackend.java
@@ -227,4 +227,11 @@ public interface IVT100EmulatorBackend {
 	 * scroll region.
 	 */
 	void processReverseLineFeed();
+
+	/**
+	 * Replaces characters from the cursor position with space characters.
+	 *
+	 * @param n  number of characters to replace
+	 */
+	void eraseCharacters(int n);
 }
diff --git a/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100BackendTraceDecorator.java b/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100BackendTraceDecorator.java
index 615a7d6f618..013beb1c189 100644
--- a/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100BackendTraceDecorator.java
+++ b/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100BackendTraceDecorator.java
@@ -211,4 +211,9 @@ public class VT100BackendTraceDecorator implements IVT100EmulatorBackend {
 		fBackend.processReverseLineFeed();
 	}
 
+	@Override
+	public void eraseCharacters(int n) {
+		fWriter.println("eraseCharacters(" + n + ")"); //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
+		fBackend.eraseCharacters(n);
+	}
 }
diff --git a/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100Emulator.java b/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100Emulator.java
index 56970c23a63..af7eadd8254 100644
--- a/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100Emulator.java
+++ b/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100Emulator.java
@@ -617,8 +617,7 @@ public class VT100Emulator implements ControlListener {
 
 		case 'X':
 			// Erase character.
-			// Emacs, vi, and GNU readline don't seem to use this command, so we ignore
-			// it for now.
+			processAnsiCommand_X();
 			break;
 
 		case 'Z':
@@ -1238,6 +1237,13 @@ public class VT100Emulator implements ControlListener {
 		text.scrollDown(getAnsiParameter(0));
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Erases n characters from cursor (default = 1 character)
+	 */
+	private void processAnsiCommand_X() {
+		text.eraseCharacters(getAnsiParameter(0));
+	}
+
 	private void processDecPrivateCommand_h() {
 		int param = getAnsiParameter(0);
 		switch (param) {
diff --git a/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100EmulatorBackend.java b/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100EmulatorBackend.java
index 514ec7c6a0f..14d79198ce1 100644
--- a/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100EmulatorBackend.java
+++ b/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.control/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100EmulatorBackend.java
@@ -490,4 +490,15 @@ public class VT100EmulatorBackend implements IVT100EmulatorBackend {
 			fTerminal.scroll(line, nLines, n);
 		}
 	}
+
+	@Override
+	public void eraseCharacters(int n) {
+		synchronized (fTerminal) {
+			int line = toAbsoluteLine(fCursorLine);
+			int end = Math.min(fCursorColumn + n, fColumns);
+			for (int col = fCursorColumn; col < end; col++) {
+				fTerminal.setChar(line, col, '\000', null);
+			}
+		}
+	}
 }
diff --git a/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.test/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100EmulatorBackendTest.java b/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.test/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100EmulatorBackendTest.java
index 3be4b5209ca..de6bec1f900 100644
--- a/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.test/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100EmulatorBackendTest.java
+++ b/terminal/plugins/org.eclipse.tm.terminal.test/src/org/eclipse/tm/internal/terminal/emulator/VT100EmulatorBackendTest.java
@@ -926,4 +926,24 @@ public class VT100EmulatorBackendTest extends TestCase {
 		assertEquals("ghi", new String(term.getChars(5)));
 	}
 
+	public void testEraseCharacters() {
+		ITerminalTextData term = makeITerminalTextData();
+		IVT100EmulatorBackend vt100 = makeBakend(term);
+		vt100.setDimensions(4, 4);
+		String s = "aaaa\n" + "bcde\n" + "1234\n" + "5678";
+		fill(term, s);
+		vt100.setCursor(0, 0);
+		vt100.eraseCharacters(1);
+		assertEqualsTerm(" aaa\n" + "bcde\n" + "1234\n" + "5678", toMultiLineText(term));
+
+		fill(term, s);
+		vt100.setCursor(1, 0);
+		vt100.eraseCharacters(1);
+		assertEqualsTerm("aaaa\n" + " cde\n" + "1234\n" + "5678", toMultiLineText(term));
+
+		fill(term, s);
+		vt100.setCursor(2, 1);
+		vt100.eraseCharacters(2);
+		assertEqualsTerm("aaaa\n" + "bcde\n" + "1  4\n" + "5678", toMultiLineText(term));
+	}
 }