when you send a message to the shell process, you can flush all messages out by calling: c:flush().
C:\Windows\System32>erl Eshell V5.9 (abort with ^G) 1> self() ! josh. josh 2> self() ! me. me 3> self() ! you. you 4> flush(). Shell got josh Shell got me Shell got you ok 5>
In my thinking , this empties the mail box of the shell process. What is the equivalent way of emptying the mailbox of any erlang process ?