How to clear the scrollback in the screen command?

Question

I use the screen command for command-line multitasking in Linux and I set my scrollback buffer length to a very large value. Is there a key combination to clear the buffer for a certain tab when I don't want it sitting there anymore?

Answer 1

This thread has the following suggestion:

In the window whose scrollback you want to delete, set the scrollback to zero, then return it to its normal value (in your case, 15000).

If you want, you can bind this to a key:

bind / eval "scrollback 0" "scrollback 15000"

You can issue the scrollback 0 command from the session as well, after typing C-a :. HTH.

Answer 2

• C-a C will clear the screen, including the prompt
• clear (command, not key combination) will clear the screen, leaving a prompt

ETA: misread the original question; these will just clear the visible text, but will not clear the buffer!

Answer 3

I added the command "clear" as well to clean the current screen. N.B. You have to press enter to regain you prompt.

bind '/' eval "clear" "scrollback 0" "scrollback 15000"

Also add it to you ".screenrc" to make it permanent.

N.B. I added single quotes around the slash to be sure it didn't interfere in my ".screenrc". May not be necessary.

Answer 4

alias cls='printf "\e[3J\033c"'

Clears the screen and scrollback buffer.

Answer 5

^a : clear

worked for me on Ubuntu.

Answer 6

Command-K seems to be best solution for Mac. For more details and explanations, please refer to this page.

Answer 7

From the man page:

C-a C       (clear)       Clear the screen.