diff --git a/src/TerminalLine.test.ts b/src/TerminalLine.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e5a57aa5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/TerminalLine.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2018 The xterm.js authors. All rights reserved.
+ * @license MIT
+ */
+import * as chai from 'chai';
+import { TerminalLine } from './TerminalLine';
+import { CharData } from './Types';
+import { NULL_CELL_CHAR, NULL_CELL_WIDTH, NULL_CELL_CODE, CHAR_DATA_ATTR_INDEX, CHAR_DATA_CHAR_INDEX, CHAR_DATA_WIDTH_INDEX, CHAR_DATA_CODE_INDEX } from './Buffer';
+
+describe('TerminalLine', function(): void {
+  it('ctor', function(): void {
+    let line = new TerminalLine();
+    chai.expect(line.length).equals(0);
+    chai.expect(line.pop()).equals(undefined);
+    chai.expect(line.isWrapped).equals(false);
+    line = new TerminalLine(10);
+    chai.expect(line.length).equals(10);
+    chai.expect(line.pop()).eql(TerminalLine.defaultCell);
+    chai.expect(line.isWrapped).equals(false);
+    line = new TerminalLine(10, null, true);
+    chai.expect(line.length).equals(10);
+    chai.expect(line.pop()).eql(TerminalLine.defaultCell);
+    chai.expect(line.isWrapped).equals(true);
+    line = new TerminalLine(10, [123, 'a', 456, 789], true);
+    chai.expect(line.length).equals(10);
+    chai.expect(line.pop()).eql([123, 'a', 456, 789]);
+    chai.expect(line.isWrapped).equals(true);
+  });
+  it('splice', function(): void {
+    const line = new TerminalLine();
+    const data: CharData[] = [
+      [1, 'a', 0, 0],
+      [2, 'b', 0, 0],
+      [3, 'c', 0, 0]
+    ];
+    for (let i = 0; i < data.length; ++i) line.push(data[i]);
+    chai.expect(line.length).equals(data.length);
+    const removed1 = line.splice(1, 1, [4, 'd', 0, 0]);
+    const removed2 = data.splice(1, 1, [4, 'd', 0, 0]);
+    chai.expect(removed1).eql(removed2);
+    chai.expect(line.toArray()).eql(data);
+  });
+  it('TerminalLine.blankLine', function(): void {
+    const line = TerminalLine.blankLine(5, 123);
+    chai.expect(line.length).equals(5);
+    chai.expect(line.isWrapped).equals(false);
+    const ch = line.get(0);
+    chai.expect(ch[CHAR_DATA_ATTR_INDEX]).equals(123);
+    chai.expect(ch[CHAR_DATA_CHAR_INDEX]).equals(NULL_CELL_CHAR);
+    chai.expect(ch[CHAR_DATA_WIDTH_INDEX]).equals(NULL_CELL_WIDTH);
+    chai.expect(ch[CHAR_DATA_CODE_INDEX]).equals(NULL_CELL_CODE);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/TerminalLine.ts b/src/TerminalLine.ts
index cf4f467c..fa13197f 100644
--- a/src/TerminalLine.ts
+++ b/src/TerminalLine.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /**
- * Copyright (c) 2017 The xterm.js authors. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2018 The xterm.js authors. All rights reserved.
  * @license MIT
  */
 import { CharData } from './Types';
@@ -11,25 +11,28 @@ import { NULL_CELL_CODE, NULL_CELL_WIDTH, NULL_CELL_CHAR } from './Buffer';
  * Once the storages are in place it will proxy access to
  * typed array based line data.
  * TODO: move typical line actions in `InputHandler` and `Terminal` here:
- *    - create blank line
+ *    - create blank line - done
  *    - insert cells
  *    - remove cells
+ *    - maybe Buffer.translateBufferLineToString
  */
 export class TerminalLine {
+  static defaultCell: CharData = [0, NULL_CELL_CHAR, NULL_CELL_WIDTH, NULL_CELL_CODE];
   static blankLine(cols: number, attr: number, isWrapped?: boolean): TerminalLine {
     const ch: CharData = [attr, NULL_CELL_CHAR, NULL_CELL_WIDTH, NULL_CELL_CODE];
-    const line = new TerminalLine();
-    if (isWrapped) line.isWrapped = true;
-    for (let i = 0; i < cols; i++) line.push(ch);
-    return line;
+    return new TerminalLine(cols, ch, isWrapped);
   }
   private _data: CharData[];
   public isWrapped = false;
   length: number;
-  constructor() {
+  constructor(cols?: number, ch?: CharData, isWrapped?: boolean) {
     this._data = [];
     this.length = this._data.length;
-
+    if (cols) {
+      if (!ch) ch = TerminalLine.defaultCell;
+      for (let i = 0; i < cols; i++) this.push(ch);  // Note: the ctor ch is not cloned
+    }
+    if (isWrapped) this.isWrapped = true;
     // for debugging purpose:
     // throw Error when something tries to do number index access
     // TODO: remove when done with transition
@@ -45,7 +48,6 @@ export class TerminalLine {
       });
     }
     */
-
   }
   get(index: number): CharData {
     return this._data[index];
@@ -75,4 +77,7 @@ export class TerminalLine {
   release(): void {
     // TODO: unref here
   }
+  toArray(): CharData[] {
+    return this._data;
+  }
 }