Why doesn't \x1b[2J clear my scrollback?

\x1b[2J clears the visible screen only — scrollback lives in a separate buffer. Use \x1b[3J (xterm extension) to also clear scrollback, or pair with \x1b[H to move cursor to top first: printf '\033[H\033[2J\033[3J' is the full equivalent of the clear command on most modern terminals.

What's the difference between \x1b[0J, \x1b[1J, \x1b[2J?

\x1b[0J (default, also \x1b[J) erases from cursor to end of screen. \x1b[1J erases from start of screen to cursor. \x1b[2J erases the entire visible screen. None of them move the cursor — pair with \x1b[H if you want the cursor at top-left after the clear. Scrollback is preserved by all three; use \x1b[3J to wipe scrollback too.

ED — Erase in display (\x1b[2J clear screen)

Erase part or all of the screen.

Byte forms

Every common string-literal form so you can paste-and-search either direction.

\\x1b[\x1b[NJ

\\033[\033[2J

\\e[\e[2J

ESC [ESC [ N J

hex1b 5b <N> 4a

Description

Erase in Display. Final byte J. Parameter N controls scope: 0 = cursor → end of screen (default), 1 = beginning of screen → cursor (inclusive), 2 = entire visible screen, 3 = entire screen + scrollback buffer (xterm extension since v333, 2006). The cursor itself does NOT move — ED erases cells in place. The canonical 'clear screen' idiom is \x1b[2J\x1b[H: erase + home in one buffer flush. ECMA-48 §8.3.39 specifies parameters 0–2; the 3 value (scrollback erase) is xterm-private and what GNU clear -x emits when the terminfo entry advertises the E3 capability (modern xterm-256color, kitty, alacritty, wezterm, ghostty, gnome-terminal, konsole all carry it).

Two traps. (1) Default-parameter trap: \x1b[J defaults to N = 0 ('erase from cursor to end of screen'), NOT 'erase zero cells / no-op'. Programs that emit \x1b[J 'just to be safe' silently wipe everything below the current cursor row — see csi-default-params for the per-command default table. (2) Mode 3 is not universal: Linux console / fbcon ignores \x1b[3J (no scrollback buffer exists at the kernel level); macOS Terminal.app supports it; conhost.exe (legacy cmd) doesn't have a separate scrollback to erase; ConPTY on Win10 1809+ forwards the byte unchanged. Behaviour inside alt-screen is subtle: \x1b[2J erases the alt buffer's visible area while leaving the primary buffer untouched (DECSET 1049 preserved it separately) — exiting alt-screen via \x1b[?1049l restores the primary buffer in full, regardless of how aggressively you ED'd inside (see alt-screen / crlf-under-alt-screen). Prefer \x1b[2J\x1b[H over the legacy \x1bc (RIS — ris-reset); RIS does a full hardware reset including SGR / charset / palette and is overkill if you just want a fresh visible area.

ED leaves the cursor where it was — pair with CUP (\x1b[H) to position the cursor after the erase (see cursor-position). For per-line erasure use EL (erase-line, final byte K) which has the same default-parameter trap. To 'reset everything but keep the user's terminal sane', prefer DECSTR (decstr-soft-reset — \x1b[!p) over RIS; it resets character sets, modes, margins, and SGR without trashing the scrollback or palette. For animated TUIs, scope ED to the rows you actually changed — sending \x1b[2J every frame causes visible flicker on slower remote terminals.

Spec citation: ECMA-48 §8.3.39 (ED)

Examples

bash

printf '\033[2J\033[H'

python

print('\x1b[2J\x1b[H', end='')

fmt.Print("\x1b[2J\x1b[H")

javascript

process.stdout.write('\x1b[2J\x1b[H')

printf("\x1b[2J\x1b[H");

Used in

Real-world tools that emit this sequence — anchors the bytes to commands you've already used.

clear(1), reset(1)POSIX clear is essentially this sequence
htop, top, btop initial paint
tput clear
vim :redraw!, neovim equivalents

Frequently asked

Short answers to the questions developers actually search for this sequence.

Why doesn't \x1b[2J clear my scrollback?: \x1b[2J clears the visible screen only — scrollback lives in a separate buffer. Use \x1b[3J (xterm extension) to also clear scrollback, or pair with \x1b[H to move cursor to top first: printf '\033[H\033[2J\033[3J' is the full equivalent of the clear command on most modern terminals.
What's the difference between \x1b[0J, \x1b[1J, \x1b[2J?: \x1b[0J (default, also \x1b[J) erases from cursor to end of screen. \x1b[1J erases from start of screen to cursor. \x1b[2J erases the entire visible screen. None of them move the cursor — pair with \x1b[H if you want the cursor at top-left after the clear. Scrollback is preserved by all three; use \x1b[3J to wipe scrollback too.

Common typos / look-alikes

Wrong forms developers commonly paste from Stack Overflow that look right but aren't — with the canonical correction inline.

\x1b[J (expecting full-screen clear)\x1b[2J
ED's default parameter is 0 (erase from cursor to end-of-screen), not 2 (full screen). \x1b[J only clears below the cursor — to clear everything use \x1b[2J, and pair with \x1b[H to also reposition the cursor.
\x1b[Cl\x1b[2J
Lowercase Cl and similar typos are common when developers misremember the mnemonic 'clear'. ED's final byte is uppercase J (not C, which is CUF — cursor forward). \x1b[Cl moves the cursor one column right then prints l as text.
\x1b[2J (then writing without \x1b[H)\x1b[2J\x1b[H
ED with parameter 2 erases the visible screen but does NOT move the cursor — the cursor stays wherever it was. Subsequent writes appear at that stale position, not at top-left. Pair \x1b[2J with \x1b[H (CUP-to-(1;1)) or use \x1b[2J\x1b[3J\x1b[H for clear + scrollback wipe + home.

Terminal support

xterm: yes
Linux console (fbcon): yes
macOS Terminal.app: yes
iTerm2: yes
Windows Terminal: yes
cmd.exe / ConPTY: yes
kitty: yes
alacritty: yes
WezTerm: yes
Ghostty: yes
GNOME Terminal: yes
Konsole: yes
tmux: yes
GNU screen: yes

xterm	Linux console (fbcon)	macOS Terminal.app	iTerm2	Windows Terminal	cmd.exe / ConPTY	kitty	alacritty	WezTerm	Ghostty	GNOME Terminal	Konsole	tmux	GNU screen
yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes

Related sequences

In the family cookbook

CSI cookbook · 1. The envelope — `\x1b[` … `<final-byte>`