Terminal 'Clear' button

[zeru-t]

Type: Bug

When using the (powershell) terminal's clear button, the next text input will move every character except the first down several lines.

Steps:

1. Run a command in the powershell terminal that produces an output.
2. Click the 'Clear Terminal' button to clear all the text from the terminal.
3. Type any text and the text will be moved down several lines.

Screen.Recording.2025-02-02.232507.mp4

VS Code version: Code 1.96.4 (cd4ee3b, 2025-01-16T00:16:19.038Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22631
Modes:

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-Core Processor (12 x 3700)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled canvas_oop_rasterization: enabled_on direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: enabled multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: enabled_on rasterization: enabled raw_draw: disabled_off_ok skia_graphite: disabled_off video_decode: enabled video_encode: enabled vulkan: disabled_off webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled webgpu: enabled webnn: disabled_off
Load (avg)	undefined
Memory (System)	15.93GB (8.23GB free)
Process Argv	-n --crash-reporter-id dfa5594f-032d-4774-83bd-dc4f0922a728
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%

Extensions (21)

Extension	Author (truncated)	Version
esbuild-problem-matchers	con	0.0.3
vscode-eslint	dba	3.0.10
gitlens	eam	16.2.1
auto-rename-tag	for	0.1.10
shortcut-menu-bar	jer	3.0.4
vscode-gutter-preview	kis	0.32.2
extension-test-runner	ms-	0.0.12
notepadplusplus-keybindings	ms-	1.0.7
material-icon-theme	PKi	5.19.0
material-product-icons	PKi	1.7.1
vscode-thunder-client	ran	2.33.2
rust-analyzer	rus	0.3.2284
code-spell-checker	str	4.0.34
code-spell-checker-scientific-terms	str	0.2.5
supermaven	Sup	1.1.12
tauri-vscode	tau	0.2.9
intellicode-api-usage-examples	Vis	0.2.9
vscodeintellicode	Vis	1.3.2
markdown-all-in-one	yzh	3.6.2
console-logger-z	zte	1.1.1
package-annotator	zte	1.0.3

A/B Experiments

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vspor879:30202332
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vsaa593:30376534
py29gd2263:31024239
c4g48928:30535728
azure-dev_surveyone:30548225
962ge761:30959799
pythonnoceb:30805159
pythonmypyd1:30879173
2e7ec940:31000449
pythontbext0:30879054
cppperfnew:31000557
dwnewjupyter:31046869
nativerepl2:31139839
pythonrstrctxt:31112756
nativeloc2:31192216
iacca1:31171482
5fd0e150:31155592
dwcopilot:31170013
stablechunks:31184530
6074i472:31201624
dwoutputs:31217127
hdaa2157:31222309
copilot_t_ci:31222730

[albertosantini]

I reproduce the same issue with starship and stock prompt.

Maybe an issue with PSReadLine module. (here pwsh 7.5.0 and PSReadLine 2.3.6)

[albertosantini]

It doesn't happen with (external) Terminal using Ctrl+L or clear command.

[albertosantini]

Maybe related to PowerShell/PSReadLine#4074?

[zeru-t]

I'm not sure if it relates to that issue...

I'm under the impression the issue comes from VS Code's implementation of the clear functionality because:

1. All ways of clearing the terminal via VS Code actions cause this issue:
   • Terminal tab bar 'Clear Terminal' button
   • Terminal right-click 'Clear' context menu item
   • Running clear terminal command (workbench.action.terminal.clear)
2. All other ways of clearing the terminal do not cause this issue:
   • ctrl+L
   • cls
   • clear
3. This is not reproduceable when running the terminal outside of VS Code.

[meganrogge]

This issue seems to originate from an upstream component and is not something VSCode can fix by making a change to our code. As such, I will go ahead and close it. Please try to reproduce in Windows Terminal and report to microsoft/terminal with repro steps.

If you cannot reproduce in Windows Terminal, chances are it's fixed in a later version of Windows. You can read more about how we consume conpty here. Thanks for understanding.

/label upstream terminal-conpty windows