using 'printf' in a script in terminal window

[Mike McNally]

I've tried

  printf '\f'

in the following terminal emulators:

  gnome-terminal
  xfce4-terminal
  xterm
  Eterm
  aterm
  rxvt
  evilvte

In none of them does the screen clearl; they all seem to treat it the
same way, which is as a form feed.  I think that's because that's what
the VT-102 did.


On Sat, Nov 21, 2009 at 5:27 PM, Jerry <gesbbb at yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:13:35 -0600
> Mike McNally <emmecinque at gmail.com> replied:
>
>> I'm running Linux, and yes I was talking about the console, not an X
>> terminal emulator.
>>
>> Note that the only way for "printf" to clear the screen reliably
>> would be for it to do exactly the same thing that "clear" does. (Key
>> word there is "reliably.")
>>
>> I won't defend the status quo as representing a state of perfection
>> of course. Back in the 70's the real-world day-to-day problem that
>> was the ridiculous variation in ASCII terminal capabilities was
>> insane.  At least nowadays the vast majority of "terminals" in use
>> are xterm (or whatever-term). Still, there are surprisingly many
>> variations even of that animal (though I suspect that most of them
>> more-or-less behave like xterm, which itself is mostly like a VT-100
>> or VT-something, I think).
>
> I just received a response from one of the Terminal developers. He
> wants to know if this behavior is also apparent in vte (and/or
> gnome-terminal). If you, or anyone else could supply me with a
> definitive response I would appreciate it. He seems to be inclined to
> consider this a BUG.
>
> --
> Jerry
> gesbbb at yahoo.com
>
> |::::=======
> |::::=======
> |===========
> |===========
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>
>
>
>        now I don't know what to add.
>
>
>        Steven Wright
>
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