Is there a way to either;
(1) Clear any input from the terminal
(2) take input without the input being saved to the terminal
For example, in this program I enter a string and it checks if any of the letters are the same. Ideally I would want the input string to be cleared so that the hashtags form a rectangle by the 5th guess. I am aware that clearing the entire terminal and reprinting all the rows is an option but I would much rather just clear the line of input after every guess (if this is possible).

CodePudding user response：

You can use VT100 escape codes. Most terminals, including xterm, are VT100 aware. For erasing a line, this is ^[[2K. In C this gives:

printf("\33[2K\r");

Some worthwhile subtleties...

\33[2K erases the entire line your cursor is currently on

\033[A moves your cursor up one line, but in the same column i.e. not to the start of the line

\r brings your cursor to the beginning of the line (r is for carriage return N.B. carriage returns do not include a newline so cursor remains on the same line) but does not erase anything