Clear screen - Why wont Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cls") work? (Java)

Asked Mar 20 '16 at 17:00

Active Mar 20 '16 at 17:00

Viewed 1,513 times

I had already searched about clearing the screen in java console, and some suggest to use

Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cls");

to clear the screen, but it doesn't clear it at all. It just gives a runtime error

Exception in thread "main" java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "cls": CreateProcess error=2

Can somebody please explain why it isn't working (and yes, I'm in windows). Please dont suggest things like "you shouldnt clear screen" or suggest another way of clearing the screen, I just want to know why this code will give me an error, despite that I'm in Windows.

Many thanks in advance!

asked Mar 20 '16 at 17:00

imaginate

4

Because `cls` is a command that is processed by `cmd` or `command` (a *shell* command), not a program. – Elliott Frisch Mar 20 '16 at 17:01
Why do some users suggest this way of clearing the screen, if it doesn't work anyway? Is there something I missed, in order for this to work? – imaginate Mar 20 '16 at 17:03
1

Possible duplicate of [How to execute cmd commands via Java](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4157303/how-to-execute-cmd-commands-via-java) – Yassin Hajaj Mar 20 '16 at 17:05
@Imaginate You want to clear Eclipse's screen? – Yassin Hajaj Mar 20 '16 at 17:05
yeah im using eclipse, but an IDE independent solution would be better (I'm exporting it to a jar) – imaginate Mar 20 '16 at 17:09
@Imaginate what screen you want to clear ? – Madhawa Priyashantha Mar 20 '16 at 17:11
Idrk what exactly handles the program, but Im wrapping the jar in an exe, so all the printing is in the console that starts up when i run the exe – imaginate Mar 20 '16 at 17:13

Clear screen - Why wont Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cls") work? (Java)

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