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Re: Quit versus Clear["Global`*"]

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg121207] Re: Quit versus Clear["Global`*"]
• From: David Bailey <dave at removedbailey.co.uk>
• Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2011 04:13:20 -0400 (EDT)
• Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
• References: <j3t5ga$58h$1@smc.vnet.net>

On 03/09/2011 13:10, Themis Matsoukas wrote:
> What is the difference between quitting the kernel and executing Clear["Global`*"]?
>
> Is there a command to quit the kernel, instead of selecting Quit/Local from there Evaluate menu?
>
> Thanks
>
Quit[] will quit the kernel.

Obviously Clear["Global`*"] would not clear information that might end 
up in other contexts, whereas Quit[] will clear everything.

I never clear the global context - I just quit the kernel one way or 
another. Restarting the kernel used to be rather slow, but with the 
speed of a modern PC, there really doesn't seem much point doing 
anything else unless you specifically wish to preserve some information 
that is not in Global`.

I tend to quit the kernel quite a lot - e.g. between successive runs of 
a program - why risk the confusion that can arise when two function 
definitions end up coexisting!

David Bailey
http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk