'\b' doesn't print backspace in PyCharm console

Question

I am trying to update the last line in PyCharm's console. Say, I print a and then I want to change it to c. However, I encounter the following problem. When I run:

print 'a\bc'

it prints

a c

while the desired output (which is also what I see in the Windows console) is:

c

Is there a way to move the cursor back in PyCharm's console? or maybe delete the whole line?

Answer 1

This is not a bug, this is a limitation of the interactive console found both in PyCharm, and in the IDLE shell.

When using the command prompt of windows, or a linux shell - the \b character is interpreted as a backspace and implemented as it is being parsed - However, in the interactive console of PyCharm and IDLE the \b character and many others are disabled, and instead you simply get the ASCII representation of the character (a white space in most cases).