Re: How to clear console before login promtp ?

[Dave Sherohman <esper@usinternet.com>]

Brad said:
> This was posted a while back on the list. i forget who or when though...
> 
>   # mv /etc/issue /etc/issue.old
>   # clear > /etc/issue
>   # cat /etc/issue.old >> /etc/issue

Assuming you're using bash as your shell, a much simpler option is to just
create a file in your home directory named .bash_logout (other shells use
.logout or other variations on the same theme) containing the command

clear

You'll probably also want to copy that file into /etc/skel so that it will
automatically be added to the home directories of any new users.

(These two methods are not actually equivalent.  Changing /etc/issue will
make a system-wide change which is not overridable by users, but may not
work as expected if someone uses a terminal with more lines on the display
than expected.  Adding the command to the user's logout file will, obviously,
only work on a user-by-user basis and can be turned off by individual users
if they don't want the screen to clear when they logout, but should always
work regardless of terminal geometry.)