Can You Selectively Clear Specific Lines in the Console Using C#?

Can Console.Clear() Selectively Clear Only Specific Lines in a Console?

In a recently explored project, wiping out the entire console screen using Console.Clear() proved effective. However, a more refined approach was desired: clearing only specific lines instead of the entire console.

Targeting Specific Lines

Unfortunately, Console.Clear() lacks the ability to selectively target specific lines for erasure. However, you can employ the Console.SetCursorPosition function to navigate to a specific line number. Once positioned on the desired line, you can clear it by writing a series of spaces spanning the console window width, effectively overwriting the previous text.

ClearCurrentConsoleLine Method

To simplify this process, we define a static method called ClearCurrentConsoleLine():

public static void ClearCurrentConsoleLine()
{
    int currentLineCursor = Console.CursorTop;
    Console.SetCursorPosition(0, Console.CursorTop);
    Console.Write(new string(' ', Console.WindowWidth));
    Console.SetCursorPosition(0, currentLineCursor);
}

This method determines the current line cursor position, sets the cursor back to the beginning of that line, writes spaces across the window width to overwrite the text, and then returns the cursor to its original position.

Example Usage

To illustrate this approach, consider the following example:

Console.WriteLine("Test");
Console.SetCursorPosition(0, Console.CursorTop - 1);
ClearCurrentConsoleLine();

When executed, this code:

1. Outputs "Test" to the console.
2. Moves the cursor back to the previous line (i.e., the line containing "Test").
3. Invokes ClearCurrentConsoleLine() to erase that line.

As a result, "Test" is removed from the console display, while leaving any subsequent content intact.

Additional Information

For further exploration, refer to the MSDN documentation for Console.SetCursorPosition:

• [Console.SetCursorPosition Method](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.console.setcursorposition?view=net-6.0)

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