Clearing the console window in c#

[Atomon]

how do you clear the console window in c#?

[Sgt-Peppa]

http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=269366

[wossname]

Dead easy (if you already know the code, otherwise it a tough one).

I have the code at work and I'll post it here tomorrow, but if you cant wait that long, go to

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;319257

and use the code they have there. It works fine.

[wossname]

Sorry, I completely forgot.

Paste this into a new class file and create an instance of it from your main program then call its Clear() method.

//from Microsoft website

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace AWEngLib
{
	public class ClearConsole
	{		
		private const int STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE  = -11;
		private const byte EMPTY = 32;

		[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
		struct COORD
		{
			public short x;
			public short y;
		}

		[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
		struct SMALL_RECT
		{
			public short Left;
			public short Top;
			public short Right;
			public short Bottom;
		}
				
		[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
		struct	CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO
		{
			public COORD dwSize;
			public COORD dwCursorPosition;
			public int wAttributes;
			public SMALL_RECT srWindow;
			public COORD dwMaximumWindowSize;
		}

		[DllImport("kernel32.dll", EntryPoint="GetStdHandle", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Auto, CallingConvention=CallingConvention.StdCall)]
		private static extern int GetStdHandle(int nStdHandle);

		[DllImport("kernel32.dll", EntryPoint="FillConsoleOutputCharacter", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Auto, CallingConvention=CallingConvention.StdCall)]
		private static extern int FillConsoleOutputCharacter(int hConsoleOutput, byte cCharacter, int nLength, COORD dwWriteCoord, ref int lpNumberOfCharsWritten);

		[DllImport("kernel32.dll", EntryPoint="GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Auto, CallingConvention=CallingConvention.StdCall)]
		private static extern int GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(int hConsoleOutput, ref CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO lpConsoleScreenBufferInfo);

		[DllImport("kernel32.dll", EntryPoint="SetConsoleCursorPosition", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Auto, CallingConvention=CallingConvention.StdCall)]
		private static extern int SetConsoleCursorPosition(int hConsoleOutput, COORD dwCursorPosition);

		private int hConsoleHandle;

		public ClearConsole() //Constructor
		{
			hConsoleHandle = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
		}

		public void Clear()
		{
			int hWrittenChars = 0;
			CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO strConsoleInfo = new CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO();			
			COORD Home;		
			Home.x = Home.y = 0;
			GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(hConsoleHandle, ref strConsoleInfo);
			FillConsoleOutputCharacter(hConsoleHandle, EMPTY, strConsoleInfo.dwSize.x * strConsoleInfo.dwSize.y, Home, ref hWrittenChars);
			SetConsoleCursorPosition(hConsoleHandle, Home);
		}
	}
}