If your are getting “bash: clear: command not found” on you first install of cygwin you have to make sure that you include ncurses packages in your cygwin installation. clear.exe doesn´t come in the standard installation. You must include ncurses to get clear.exe in your system. If you are using bash you can use Ctrl-L and get the same result though.
UPDATE: ncurses is a cygwin package in libs category. You can install it using the the Cygwin Setup utility (just run setup.exe again). See screenshot below
Tags: bash, clear, clear.exe, command, cygwin, first, found, installation, ncurses, not, not-found, time, troubleshooting

Thanks Ruben. You saved me a heck of a long search for clear.exe. Is this new (clear not being in the “base”)? I’ve probably installed cygwin a donen times in the past few years and haven’t had this problem until now.
‘m not sure but I also think this behaviour is new. I was also surprised the first time I saw this. I reinstalled cygwin several times until I realized that there was nothing wrong with my installation and that ncurses was the package that I was missing.
Thanks. Found your post from google, help me “fix” my cygwin installation.
Thanks. Thought I was going crazy not having the clear after a new cygwin install.
[...] is part of the ncurses package that may be found in the Libs category. Thanks to Ruben Laguna for his post on the [...]
Hmm… What is ncurses and where do I get it? Further, how do I type Ctrl-L in bash. I keep getting an error.
Thanks…
Thanks so much. This is definitely something new with cygwin installation. I’ve always took clear for granted until I realized it isn’t included by default anymore. I had to copy clear.exe from an old installation just to get it to work, and I always thought I’ve corrupted the installation somehow.
erik: ncurses contains libraries for terminal handling and you get it by running cygwin’s setup.exe again and add it to your installation. You should be able to type Ctrl-L (hold down control key + press L) in your cygwin terminal window.
Thanks so much.
Fantastic! Thanks for the info.
Btw, if you’re looking at the packages in category view (the default view in the setup program), ncurses is in the “Libs” section.
thank you..
I remember that when I installed cygwin in the past, there was a ‘clear.exe’ in the bin directory. Anyway, the ncurses package solved the problem. Thanks a lot Ruben!
Thanks a lot. You spared me a drunken rage or two :)
thanks!
Thanks.
This post was the first post I found on this issue, and then I spent a few more seconds googling for which categroy I could find the ncurses package in.
It was in the libs category, but for ease, i’d appreciate if you could update the original post.
Thanks!
Thanks! Saved me a lot of frustration and time..
Thanks a lot ….
thanks a lot.