How can I return to the start of a line in a console?

Question

How can I return to the start of a line and overwrite what has already been output on the console? The following does not appear to work:

System.out.print(my         


        

Answer 1

If you just want to write a new line to the console, you should use the println() method:

System.out.println(mystuff);

However, this will not delete what is already on the line. Actually, since System.out is a PrintStream, which is a type of OutputStream, that is basically hard to do, although you may find terminal-specific ways to do it.

You might have better luck using a Java implementation of a curses library, such as JavaCurses.