How to clear screen in python?

Most of the time, while working with Python interactive shell/terminal (not a console), we end up with a messy output and want to clear the screen for some reason. In an interactive shell/terminal, we can simply use

ctrl+l

But, what if we want to clear the screen while running a python script? Unfortunately, there’s no built-in keyword or function/method to clear the screen. So, we do it on our own.

Clearing Screen in windows Operating System

Method 1: Clear screen in Python using cls

You can simply “cls” to clear the screen in windows.

Python3

import os

# Clearing the Screen
os.system('cls')

Example 2: Clear screen in Python using clear

You can also only “import os” instead of “from os import system” but with that, you have to change system(‘clear’) to os.system(‘clear’). 

Python3

# import only system from os
from os import system, name

# import sleep to show output for some time period
from time import sleep

# define our clear function
def clear():

    # for windows
    if name == 'nt':
        _ = system('cls')

    # for mac and linux(here, os.name is 'posix')
    else:
        _ = system('clear')

# print out some text
print('hello geeks\n'*10)

# sleep for 2 seconds after printing output
sleep(2)

# now call function we defined above
clear()

Example 3: Clear screen in Python using call

Another way to accomplish this is using the subprocess module. 

Python3

# import call method from subprocess module
from subprocess import call

# import sleep to show output for some time period
from time import sleep

# define clear function
def clear():
    # check and make call for specific operating system
    _ = call('clear' if os.name == 'posix' else 'cls')


print('hello geeks\n'*10)

# sleep for 2 seconds after printing output
sleep(2)

# now call function we defined above
clear()

Clearing Screen in Linux Operating System

In this example, we used the time module and os module to clear the screen in Linux os.

Python3

import os
from time import sleep

# some text
print("a")
print("b")
print("c")
print("d")
print("e")
print("Screen will now be cleared in 5 Seconds")

# Waiting for 5 seconds to clear the screen
sleep(5)

# Clearing the Screen
os.system('clear')