FAQ 8.7 How do I clear the screen?

[PerlFAQ Server]

This is an excerpt from the latest version perlfaq8.pod, which
comes with the standard Perl distribution. These postings aim to
reduce the number of repeated questions as well as allow the community
to review and update the answers. The latest version of the complete
perlfaq is at http://faq.perl.org .

--------------------------------------------------------------------

8.7: How do I clear the screen?

(contributed by brian d foy)

To clear the screen, you just have to print the special sequence that
tells the terminal to clear the screen. Once you have that sequence,
output it when you want to clear the screen.

You can use the "Term::ANSIScreen" module to get the special sequence.
Import the "cls" function (or the ":screen" tag):

use Term::ANSIScreen qw(cls);
my $clear_screen = cls();

print $clear_screen;

The "Term::Cap" module can also get the special sequence if you want to
deal with the low-level details of terminal control. The "Tputs" method
returns the string for the given capability:

use Term::Cap;

$terminal = Term::Cap->Tgetent( { OSPEED => 9600 } );
$clear_string = $terminal->Tputs('cl');

print $clear_screen;

On Windows, you can use the "Win32::Console" module. After creating an
object for the output filehandle you want to affect, call the "Cls"
method:

Win32::Console;

$OUT = Win32::Console->new(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
my $clear_string = $OUT->Cls;

print $clear_screen;

If you have a command-line program that does the job, you can call it in
backticks to capture whatever it outputs so you can use it later:

$clear_string = `clear`;

print $clear_string;



--------------------------------------------------------------------

The perlfaq-workers, a group of volunteers, maintain the perlfaq. They
are not necessarily experts in every domain where Perl might show up,
so please include as much information as possible and relevant in any
corrections. The perlfaq-workers also don't have access to every
operating system or platform, so please include relevant details for
corrections to examples that do not work on particular platforms.
Working code is greatly appreciated.

If you'd like to help maintain the perlfaq, see the details in
perlfaq.pod.