clear pixels under a shape in HTML canvas

Question

I am using an HTML canvas and javascript and I need to clear all of the pixels underneath a shape created by closing a path (for example, I am using flot, and I want to make rounded corners, and to do this, I first need to remove the square corners by drawing a curve on top of the corner to remove the desired pixels).

Right now, I am doing this by just filling the shape with the same color as the background, which can imitate what I want to do, but, it is not ideal as it makes it impossible to place the chart on top of non-solid backgrounds without seeing the square corners. I know that there is a clearRect method that would do what I want to do, but with only rectangles, I need to do it with any closed shape. Is it possible, and if so, how would I do it?

Answer 1

brainjam's code was heading in the right direction, but didn't fully solve the problem. Here's the solution:

context.save();
context.globalCompositeOperation = 'copy';
context.fillStyle = 'rgba(0,0,0,0)';
//draw shape to cover up stuff underneath
context.fill();
context.restore();