Command to clear the Git Bash screen, including output buffer

Question

Is there any command in Git, that clear the screen. for example in window command line after execute a lot of code, if you type cls, then it will clear all the previous code. so i want the same type of functionality in Git. so can anybody will tell me the command name.

Are you asking about [clear(1)](http://linux.die.net/man/1/clear)? — Carl Norum, Sep 09 '13 at 18:06
ok. i got it. i just type clear. it remove all the previous lines. — naresh kumar, Sep 09 '13 at 18:09

score 188 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 04 '23 at 09:00

188

Actually you are looking for a Unix user environment command

clear

or you can use the keyboard shortcut

ctrl+l

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_(Unix)

To clear entire command history in Git Bash.

history -c

edited Jan 04 '23 at 09:00

JoSSte

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answered Nov 06 '13 at 08:38

leoshtika

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Works under Windows, if you are running GIT Extensions (http://code.google.com/p/gitextensions/) and run a GIT Bash prompt. – Contango Jan 14 '14 at 11:11
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should have been able to come up with that, gave up after clr – Zac May 22 '14 at 19:40
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It does not work, it only moves everything up. It does not help to look through output lines after cleaning. – Yevgeniy Afanasyev Jun 14 '16 at 05:14
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You might prefer to use `reset` so it gets rid of the buffer as well. See [this answer](http://superuser.com/a/123185) – Daniel J.G. Nov 07 '16 at 16:48
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When using `clear` multiple times, I've found that it only allows me to scroll back to the previous `clear`. Is that the usual effect? If so, is there a command that does `scroll-up-so-that-the-next-command-is-the-only-one-I-can-see-but-the-history-is-still-preserved-if-I-want-to-scroll-up-to-it?`. PS Prize for most hyphenated string? ;) – ro͢binmckenzie Oct 03 '17 at 16:53
This works, if you do ``history -c``` then clear everything is gone – samarmohan Oct 26 '20 at 20:00

score 52 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 18 '17 at 22:57

52

try using reset command, it will absolutely clean your screen but you will still have access to previous commands

reset

answered Jan 18 '17 at 22:57

Abhijeet Ahuja

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Nice! `clear` command simply moves your scrollbar in a fashion that you see a clear screen in front of you. So if you scroll up you can still see the output of the commands you had fired previously. `reset` command resets the screen scrollbar and flushes the output of all previous commands as well. So we can say `clear` command is soft clean and `reset` is hard clean :) – RBT Mar 23 '17 at 01:28
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`reset` command reinitializes the terminal, as if it was reopened from scratch. – RBT Mar 23 '17 at 01:30
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One way in which `reset` is **not** like reopening from scratch is that your current directory is retained. Also, the command history that gets carried over when you open a new Git Bash terminal completely from scratch is... somewhat wonky, particularly if you've opened several instances, closed *some* of them, then opened yet more new ones. If you do `reset`, then you know that the command history *in that particular instance* is still there. So yeah, `reset` is *exactly* what you want in most situations, and much better than "from scratch". – John Y Feb 22 '22 at 14:38
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To put it simply: `reset` in Git Bash is the closest thing to `cls` in a Windows command prompt, which is what the question is asking for. So this is a much better answer than `clear`. – John Y Feb 22 '22 at 14:52

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 28 '18 at 12:24

9

Neither clear nor history -c does the work actually.
Scroll up, all commands will be visible.

Solution:
If you are in Windows 10, and using mintty 2.7.9 (or above ?) for git bash, use Alt + F8 ... this will work.
Best of luck.
Happy coding.

Reference: here (Perhaps it didn't work for Windows 7)

answered Jun 28 '18 at 12:24

Surajit Biswas

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Alt + F8 Thanks – Ahmad Sharif Apr 24 '20 at 02:19

score 8 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 26 '21 at 14:07

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Neither clear nor history -c was clearing the history permanently.
All commands will be visible when scrolled up.
So, I solved the issue by:

In my instance the path for bash history was:
/c/Users/<your_username>/.bash_history

I removed the file by the following commands:

rm ~/.bash_history

After that, I restarted the terminal. the commands were gone.

edited Oct 26 '21 at 14:07

Alon Kogan

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answered Jul 06 '21 at 11:15

Sushan Yadav

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Only this works. – Dibakash Apr 24 '22 at 17:24
This should be the chosen answer. – Shadi Alnamrouti Jan 25 '23 at 14:12

score 7 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 22 '21 at 16:58

7

CTRL + L

search for more shortcuts in: here

answered Feb 22 '21 at 16:58

eldias1978

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it doesn't work for permament removal of history – Alon Kogan Oct 26 '21 at 14:08

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 09 '17 at 15:18

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Another option is modify (or create in your user folder) your .bash_profile and add this:

alias cls='clear';

With this you can clear the bash with a 'Windows' command.

answered Nov 09 '17 at 15:18

Cristian Batista

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score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 22 '21 at 11:20

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At the moment I use

clear;reset;clear

(in one line) and it sort of works (git version 2.32.0.windows.1).

answered Jun 22 '21 at 11:20

18446744073709551615

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it doesn't work for permament removal of history – Alon Kogan Oct 26 '21 at 14:07

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 20 '20 at 08:57

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Most times clr, clear and cls doesn't work use ctrl c to continue writing commands

answered Mar 20 '20 at 08:57

CodenameYesse

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score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Jul 25 '23 at 07:29

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If you are using windows 10 or above version then you can use the command

clear

answered Jul 25 '23 at 07:29

Isha Gandhi

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score -4 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 22 '20 at 10:49

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use clear only without git command

" clear "

answered Jul 22 '20 at 10:49

Ganesha

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This was already suggested in 2013. See the accepted answer. What's the point to send duplicate answers? – Alex Shesterov Jul 22 '20 at 11:29

Command to clear the Git Bash screen, including output buffer

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