How can I clear the screen?

[kkid]

I am making a command-line program using java.

I have done the majority of the background work and now am working on the user interface.

I am going to be asking things like "how old are you" and I will have the user type a line of text and press enter, with their input being saved as a variable.

The thing I want to happen after this is the screen clearing (no text) so that the next question can be displayed without the screen looking confusing.

Is there a way to do this?

[Fubarable]

There is no such command available in core Java. Consider creating a GUI if you absolutely need this functionality.

[kkid]

I read that this probably wasn't possible in java, I just wanted to make sure.

In that case I'll have to use my backup solution of creating lots of newLines. I am not experienced enough for a GUI yet and for what I am doing I will not really benefit from it.

Thank you for your help though.

[Fubarable]

You're welcome.

[quad64bit]

Furbarable said it, and is correct, however, there are packages designed to emulate this functionality (which is usually supplied by some variant of curses or ncurses in unix). The learning curve may be too steep for your level of experience, but check out the screenshots on the Charva project website: CHARVA: A Java Windowing Toolkit for Text Terminals

You can do simple things like in-place text changes and clearing the screen, as well as advanced stuff like simulating tabs, fields, etc...

If you MUST use a command line, this is the way to go, but as others have said, making a simple GUI window which does the same thing would be much easier. Packages like this are still popular for command line servers/systems though!

[kkid]

How difficult would it be to have everything which is currently command-line but in a JFrame?

All I would need is a single window and one line of text input (i.e. what a command-line window is).

[quad64bit]

You could just have a textfield and a text area - where input is the textfield and all output is in the text field.

[kkid]

So what do I need to start learning to do that? Swing?


Will it take too long to learn?

[Tolls]

Define "too long".
It'll probably take about the same amount of time as to learn a curses/ncurses wrapper.
Here's the tutorial(s).
Skip the Netbeans IDE bit, as the GUI builder will not do you any favours.