Wednesday, October 27, 2021

[SOLVED] Is there way to replace lines without clearing the screen?

Issue

printf "line one\n"
printf "line two\n"

After these printouts I want to replace line one and print something else (without using clear). I've tried commands like:

printf "line one\n"
printf "line two\r"

It's not what I want because it replaces the last line line two, not line one.

What I want to do:

printf "line one\n"
printf "line two\n"
sleep 0.5
somecode "line three"

Output I want:

line three
line two

Solution

you can move the cursor in bash scripts via printing special escape sequences, try this code:

#!/bin/bash

# print first line
printf "first line is long\n"
# print second line
printf "line 2\n"
sleep 1
# move cursor two steps UP
printf "\033[2A"
# print line 3 (without \n)
printf "line #3"
# clear rest of first line
# and move cursor two steps down
printf "\033[K\r\033[2B"

more about ANSI Escape Sequences: https://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prompt-HOWTO/c327.html



Answered By - Игорь Тыра