Clearing the screen in IPython

Question

Is there a command in IPython to clear the screen?

EDIT: As @Saher mentions below, I can clean the screen using import os; os.system('CLS'), but is there a way to do this without having to import all of os?

See the answers to the similar question [here][1] [1]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1432480/any-way-to-clear-python-shell — Saher Ahwal, Jul 31 '11 at 20:47
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1432480/any-way-to-clear-python-shell — Saher Ahwal, Jul 31 '11 at 20:47
you can also put an alias in your `ipy_user_conf.py` file. i use this quite often so i have it aliased to `c` rather than having to type `!clear`. — wim, Aug 01 '11 at 00:48
I had to comment out this line from ~/.ipython/ipythonrc readline_parse_and_bind "\C-l": possible-completions After that it worked great — krethika, Aug 16 '12 at 16:39

mzjn · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-07T06:27:16.100

48

To clear the screen on Windows, use !CLS.

On Unix-like systems, use !clear.

A shell command is executed by the operating system if prepended by an exclamation mark. See http://ipython.readthedocs.io/en/stable/interactive/reference.html#system-shell-access.

Note that commands should also work without the exclamation mark if they are defined as aliases. See http://ipython.readthedocs.io/en/stable/interactive/shell.html?#aliases.

There is also a Ctrl+L shortcut for clearing the screen. See http://ipython.readthedocs.io/en/stable/config/shortcuts/index.html#single-filtered-shortcuts.

edited Mar 07 '17 at 06:27

answered Jul 31 '11 at 21:05

mzjn

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This one worked! I don't see anything regarding `!CLS` in the link you provided though. Am I missing something? – Amelio Vazquez-Reina Jul 31 '11 at 21:07
3

The CLS command (or any command) is executed by the OS if prepended by an exclamation mark. – mzjn Jul 31 '11 at 21:10
`Ctrl + L` works like a charm. Thanks ! – Scott Grammilo Oct 03 '21 at 18:31

score 15 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 31 '11 at 20:54

15

You can bind it to the common Ctrl-l shortcut by putting this into your ~/.ipython/ipythonrc:

readline_parse_and_bind "\C-l": clear-screen

answered Jul 31 '11 at 20:54

Jakub Roztocil

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The command `clear-screen` does not seem to work on my system (Windows with Spyderlib), but I like the idea of binding a solution to `C-l` – Amelio Vazquez-Reina Jul 31 '11 at 21:08
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For me, this line was already in my ipythonrc readline_parse_and_bind "\C-l": possible-completions I had to comment it out, and then it worked great. – krethika Aug 16 '12 at 16:36
`SyntaxError: invalid syntax` for me on Windows – A T Jan 28 '13 at 15:26

score 12 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 16 '17 at 11:23

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CTRL + L works in both Windows and Ubuntu. And I guess it's best because you don't have to type much.

answered Apr 16 '17 at 11:23

lu5er

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score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 28 '13 at 15:24

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Maybe I'm just using a newer version, but it worked fine for me with just:

cls

On Windows, and on *nix:

clear

answered Jan 28 '13 at 15:24

A T

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score 6 · Answer 5 · answered May 14 '13 at 17:08

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for me, just to type "clear" is enought.

answered May 14 '13 at 17:08

Mauro

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This works for me on Ubuntu (I assume almost all unix systems). However not on windows, but `!CLS` and `cls` works. – quapka May 09 '16 at 07:18

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 14 '11 at 04:43

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clear is a default alias in ipython 0.11

In [76]: a = get_ipython()

In [77]: a.alias_manager.expand_alias('clear')
Out[77]: u'clear '

answered Sep 14 '11 at 04:43

Alex Gaudio

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score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 31 '11 at 20:50

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If you are running windows try os.system('CLS')

You need to import os first though:

import os

answered Jul 31 '11 at 20:50

Saher Ahwal

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Thanks Saher, `import os; os.system('CLS')` seems to work (at least in Windows). Is there a way to do this without having to import all of `os` ? – Amelio Vazquez-Reina Jul 31 '11 at 20:51
I don't think there is a way to do this without importing *os* – Saher Ahwal Jul 31 '11 at 20:56

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 05 '17 at 12:49

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In macOS 10.13.1, Terminal 2.8, press command-k for Clear to Start.

clear resulted in "NameError: name 'clear' is not defined."

Caution: As a noob I may not fully understand what I did, but command-k seemed to do what I intended.

answered Dec 05 '17 at 12:49

Charlie Ahern

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score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Oct 09 '19 at 21:08

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On windows using Enthought Canopy Clear, CLS, !CLS, does not clear the previous data, it just moves all the data to above the top of the window. If you scroll down the text is all there.

answered Oct 09 '19 at 21:08

Ken Weiner

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score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 31 '11 at 21:04

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__import__('os').system("reset")

answered Jul 31 '11 at 21:04

Dan D.

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score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Feb 24 '23 at 10:00

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On Windows Powershell cls (in lowercase with no exclamation mark) clears the screen just fine.

answered Feb 24 '23 at 10:00

Omar T.

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score 0 · Answer 12 · answered May 04 '23 at 07:25

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I use ctrl + l in Windows 10 and it's works perfectly.

answered May 04 '23 at 07:25

Yaucer

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The ctrl + L shortcut has already been mentioned in the other answers. – Gino Mempin May 08 '23 at 00:35
Please don't add "thank you" as an answer. Once you have sufficient [reputation](https://stackoverflow.com/help/whats-reputation), you will be able to [vote up questions and answers](https://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/vote-up) that you found helpful. - [From Review](/review/late-answers/34330120) – Gino Mempin May 08 '23 at 00:35

Clearing the screen in IPython

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