>>> Hi folks, >>> >>> If I'm only interested in linux and windows I know I can do >>> >>> ################################ >>> import os >>> import platform >>> >>> if platform.system( ) == 'Linux': >>> clear = 'clear' >>> else: >>> clear = 'cls' >>> >>> os.system( clear ) >>> ################################ >>> >>> or something equivalent using os.name and friends, but was wondering >>> why there is no platform independent way (i.e. the platform dependence >>> is taken care of by the python stdlib) of clearing a terminal. Sure, >>> there are many different terminals and many different operating >>> systems but in many areas python managed to hide all these >>> complexities behind a well defined API. >>> >>> Why was clearing a terminal left out? >>> >> >> What you're talking about is a shell, not a terminal (a terminal is a >> physical device). And the shell is not necessarily part of the OS itself > >> (there's no shortage of shells for unices / linux systems), so it >> doesn't belong to the os or platform modules. >> >> FWIW, I can't tell for sure since I never used any other shell than >> bash, but I'm not sure your above code is garanteed to work on each and >> any possible unix shell. > > Sorry, but that is completely wrong - the shell is irrelevant. > > "clear" is just a normal command line program that queries the > termcap/terminfo database (possibly via the curses library) for the > terminal specific sequence of characters that will clear the screen. It > then writes those characters to stdout. The terminal, or (more usually > these days) terminal emulator, then interprets those characters and takes > the appropriate action. > > I'm not sure what the POSIX status of the clear command is, but I'd be > surprised if it wasn't present on a UNIX/Linux system of any vintage.
After getting the technicalities out of the way, maybe I should have asked: Is it only me or others would find a platform independent python API to clear the terminal useful? Cheers, Daniel -- Psss, psss, put it down! - http://www.cafepress.com/putitdown -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
