clear (Unix)

clear is a computer operating systemcommand which is used to bring the command line on top of the computer terminal. It is available in various Unix shells on Unix and Unix-like operating systems as well as on other systems such as KolibriOS.^[1]

On Unix clear uses the terminfo or termcapdatabase, as well as looking into the environment for the terminal type in order to deduce how to clear the screen.

ISO standard 9995-7 specifies that the following symbol be used to indicate this function on a keyboard, which is included in Unicode as: ⎚ CLEAR SCREEN SYMBOL.^[2]

The clear command appeared in 2.79BSD on February 24, 1979. Later, in 1985, the command was also included in Unix 8th edition.^[3] MSDOS and similar systems use cls as an equivalent command.

• List of Unix commands

• McElhearn, Kirk (2006). The Mac OS X Command Line: Unix Under the Hood. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0470113851.

• The manual (man) page for clear