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I am new to python, I was trying to clear the console and I got this message 'TERM environment variable not set'. I found ways to fix the issue online but I couldn't find an explanation for what it actually means.

Hamm
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1 Answers1

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$TERM is an environment variable, meaning that it is maintained by the OS, and shared between programs, rather than just belonging to your own program.

In this case, $TERM represents the type of terminal your program is running in. For example, when I run echo $TERM in a terminal, I get xterm-256color as output. Presumably, the clear command you're using checks what terminal is being used in order to figure out how to clear the terminal (since different terminals might do so in different ways).

Miguel Guthridge
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  • Thanks for the explanation! Just to clarify the reason I got that message was because I didn't specify which terminal to clear? also this was the clear command I used: def clear_console(): system('cls' if name == 'nt' else 'clear') – Hamm Feb 26 '22 at 03:04
  • I don't think it's to do with any code you've written. That environment variable should be set automatically by your terminal when you launch it, at least in Linux/MacOS. On Windows I think the behaviour is different, but I'm less familiar with it. – Miguel Guthridge Feb 26 '22 at 03:11