Comment # 66 on bug 1054448 from Dr. Werner Fink

(In reply to Egmont Koblinger from comment #65)

> Nitpicking:
> 
> The attached "shell script rep.tst" contains commands like "rep 108 0".
> 
> REP, by its nature, contains an important off by one. E.g. to print a
> character 20 times in total, you print it first and then repeat it 19 times.
> Apparently the "tput rep" command expects to receive 20 as its argument in
> this case, and subtracts one for the generated repeater escape sequence
> "\e[19b".
> 
> As a result, "tput rep 108 0" prints the letter "l" once, followed by
> "\e[-1b" as if it was a valid escape sequence to repeat it -1 times.
> 
> xterm silently swallows this, resulting in "l" appearing once. VTE's
> (gnome-terminal's) forthcoming patch will display garbage. konsole also
> displays garbage.
> 
> I don't think "rep 108 0" or its emitted escape sequence "\e[-1b" are valid
> ones and I don't think any particular behavior is expected here from
> terminal emulators.

I've added your comment to bug boo#1056020