How to clear the interpreter console?

Question

Like most Python developers, I typically keep a console window open with the Python interpreter running to test commands, dir() stuff, help() stuff

Answer 1

If it is on mac, then a simple cmd + k should do the trick.

Answer 2

here something handy that is a little more cross-platform

import os

def cls():
    os.system('cls' if os.name=='nt' else 'clear')

# now, to clear the screen
cls()

Answer 3

The OS command clear in Linux and cls in Windows outputs a "magic string" which you can just print. To get the string, execute the command with popen and save it in a variable for later use:

from os import popen
with popen('clear') as f:
    clear = f.read()

print clear

On my machine the string is '\x1b[H\x1b[2J'.

Answer 4

How about this for a clear

- os.system('cls')

That is about as short as could be!

Answer 5

EDIT: I've just read "windows", this is for linux users, sorry.

---

In bash:

#!/bin/bash

while [ "0" == "0" ]; do
    clear
    $@
    while [ "$input" == "" ]; do
        read -p "Do you want to quit? (y/n): " -n 1 -e input
        if [ "$input" == "y" ]; then
            exit 1
        elif [ "$input" == "n" ]; then
            echo "Ok, keep working ;)"
        fi
    done
    input=""
done

Save it as "whatyouwant.sh", chmod +x it then run:

./whatyouwant.sh python

or something other than python (idle, whatever). This will ask you if you actually want to exit, if not it rerun python (or the command you gave as parameter).

This will clear all, the screen and all the variables/object/anything you created/imported in python.

In python just type exit() when you want to exit.

Answer 6

I'm not sure if Windows' "shell" supports this, but on Linux:

print "\033[2J"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#CSI_codes

In my opinion calling cls with os is a bad idea generally. Imagine if I manage to change the cls or clear command on your system, and you run your script as admin or root.