Thread is here:
https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-ideas@python.org/message/EWQ2BOL3WVZAU2V2MT3HLXN3AEBHANNZ/
I don't think this needs to be a literal built-in, part of the
interpreter. I think it could be a library function which is added to
builtins on startup, like `help` and `quit`.
That sounds like a very special status. Why not os.clear()?
I do agree with the motivation for doing this. (I've started doing more exploratory programming and I've felt this need clearly a few times.) I can't comment on the exact semantics or implementation (though I'd prefer it if it didn't have to run a subprocess).
IDLE should probably monkey-patch this so it does something reasonable in its shell window.