postcursor

Postcursor is a term used in several disciplines to denote the element, signal, or portion that comes after a designated reference point, often after a cursor or insertion point in a document, a data stream, or a sequence. Because it is not a single, formally defined concept, its precise meaning varies by field.

In computing and text processing, postcursor commonly refers to the region of text that follows the current caret position. Some editing features, such as postcursor analysis or rendering, describe or operate on the content after the insertion point rather than before it.

In data processing and communications, postcursor may denote the payload or sequence that occurs after a synchronization marker or index. It is used in describing the layout of frames, packets, or records in which subsequent data depends on the content that precedes it.

In linguistics or formal languages, the term is rarely standard; when used, it may refer to elements that attach to a stem or base on its right side, though this usage is not common.

Because the term is not universally standardized, definitions are usually localized to specific software manuals, technical documents, or domain-specific glossaries.

See also cursor, insertion point, postfix, suffix, postface.