Is there a command to clear a Cygwin console?

Question

Is there a command to clear all of the history in a Cygwin console window without losing the .bash_history?

This is a duplicate of this question, except that it isn't as well written. If you had written your question better, Erik Vold, without misnaming terminal output as "history" for starters, you wouldn't have had to explain what you were asking over and over in comments. This should be closed as a duplicate. — JdeBP, Mar 11 '11 at 22:13
@JdeBP did you try the solution mentioned there? it does not work.. — erikvold, Mar 11 '11 at 22:28
@JdeBP Cygwin != *nix console... So, no dupe IMHO... Please don't be too harsh, try to be constructive in your criticism... — Pylsa, Mar 11 '11 at 22:31

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 11 '11 at 21:15

9

Click Ctrl-L. It should clear everything without losing the .bash_history. `

answered Mar 11 '11 at 21:15

paradd0x

1

If necessary, you could embed ^L in a script, or even change the Bash prompt to clear the screen after each command. – CarlF Mar 11 '11 at 21:54
1

Doesn't this just move previous output off screen? – Ruan Mendes Feb 04 '13 at 20:53

score 6 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 28 '12 at 18:26

6

If you mean you want to clear the console window: install ncurses (in Utils) and then you can use:

clear

edited Aug 28 '12 at 18:26

Hans

answered Mar 14 '11 at 14:09

Reg Whitton

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 27 '14 at 05:58

Open Windows Explorer then navigate to:

[Cygwin Installation Directory]\home\[User]\

e.g.: C:\cygwin\home\wreckseal

then open the file .bashrc with Notepad++.

Move your cursor at the end of the last line and hit Enter key, then add the text below.

alias cls='echo -e "\033c"'

or the text below:

alias cls='printf "\033c"'

Restart cygwin, type cls. Done!

Note that there's no scrollbar after sending the cls command. I prefer the printf version than the echo version. Try it yourself!

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 24 '14 at 14:38

1

I use Alt+F8 and the screen is like you have just open a fresh cygwin!

edited Oct 24 '14 at 14:38

Matthew Williams

answered Oct 24 '14 at 14:28

carlitos081

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 18 '16 at 20:15

0

There are two simple ways:

edited Mar 18 '16 at 20:15

Ben N

answered Mar 18 '16 at 18:17

zakariya

5 Answers5