I´m trying to clear the screen right after login to avoid the output from my university´s system´s /etc/profile, by placing a clear on top of ~/bash_profile.
It doesn´t seem to execute.
I´ve tried clear, /usr/bin/clear, tput clear, and I´ve tried them on different spots of my ~/.bash_profile. Even tried placing it on ~/.bashrc.

Results show the w command, present on my ~/bash_profile as being the problem:

If I place clear after it, it clears, if I place clear before, it doesn´t.
If I remove w, it clears wherever I put it.

This doesn´t make any sense to me, and I want this w command being executed when I log in, on a clear screen.
Can any one help?


notes:
I tried the same thing on another computer, on RH 9, and it worked just fine on top of w.

The problem was found on FC4, kernel 2.6.17-1.2142_FC4smp, bash version 3.0 patch level 16, as bashbug-64 reports.
The problem was NOT found on RH9, kernel 2.4.20-8, bash version 2.05b, patch level 0, as bashbug reports.

While I have heard of a ~/.bash_profile this is an unusual file name. Are you sure it isn't ~/.profile and/or ~/.bashrc? These two files are traditional and they are the file names used in most distros.

In any case the mail announcement and the message of the day display before the login scripts in your home directory execute.

~/.bash_profile is default, just as ~/.profile ~/.bash_login ~/.bashrc
I could link you to wikipedia´s bash page saying that, but I can´t link anyone till I got 3 posts, it seems.