cls-clear: clear your terminal the lazy way

• Description
• Installation
• Usage
• Compatibility
• License

Description

This is a simple library that provides a command to clear the terminal screen. I am aware of the existance of the clear module; however, this library is aimed at those who have the cls command hardwired into their muscle memory, and want to use it in a python interactive session as well. Below is a simple comparison; keypress count includes the Enter key, visualized as ↵.

>>> from clear import clear ↵ # 24 keypresses
>>> clear() ↵ # 8 keypresses

Versus:

>>> from cls import * ↵ # 18 keypresses => 25% shorter
>>> cls ↵ # 4 keypresses => 50% shorter
>>> clear ↵ # 6 keypresses => 25% shorter

Life-changing stuff, I know.

Installation and usage

The installation and usage is as easy as pie; just install it via pip:

pip install cls-clear

..and then, in an interactive python session, you can just do as such:

PS C:\Users\belliricc\Data\SomeProject> python
Python 3.12.10 (tags/v3.12.10:0cc8128, Apr  8 2025, 12:21:36) [MSC v.1943 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> from cls import *
>>> cls # This will clear the terminal
>>> clear # This will also clear the terminal

If you try to import the library from a non-interactive session (e.g. a script), it will raise an ImportError, for obvious reasons.

Compatibility

This library is very simple; it was developed and tested on Windows 10 and python 3.12, but it should be good to go with python up till 3.0 (checked with vermin) and non-Windows OSs.

Anyways, any feedback is appreciated and welcome; just open an issue or a pull request and I'll gladly take a look at it.

License is the Unlicense

cls-clear is distributed under the Unlicense, which is a public domain dedication. This means that you can do whatever you want with it, including using it in commercial projects, modifying it, and distributing it.