[Chapter 21] Reference: Document.clear()
Author: David Flanagan
Date: Fri Aug 29 11:15:00 1997

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| Chapter 21 JavaScript Reference |

# Document.clear() Method

## Name

Document.clear() Method---clear a document

## Availability

deprecated; do not use

## Synopsis

    document.clear()

### Arguments

none

### Returns

nothing

## Description

`document``.clear()` temporarily erases the specified `document` (i.e., it clears the window or frame that contains `document`). This method does not actually remove the contents of the document, and if the window is covered and then uncovered, for example, the document will be redrawn. This is unusual and generally undesirable behavior, and the use of the `clear()` method is not recommended.

Furthermore, Internet Explorer 3.0 defines this function in an compatible way. On that platform, the `clear()` method is simply a synonym for `Document.open()`.

The `clear()` method will be removed from JavaScript in a future version of the language. When you want to use JavaScript to delete the current document and begin a new one, you should first call the `close()` method for the current document, then call the `open()` method to open a new document, and then use the `write()` and `writeln()` methods to write out the contents of the new document. When you are writing HTML text, you can omit the call to `open()`--a new `text/html` document will be automatically opened if you call `write()` or `writeln()` without first calling `open()`.

## See Also

"Document", "Document.close()", "Document.open()", "Document.write()"

Document.bgColor |  | Document.close()