The Clear function allows the user to delete everything contained within the current selection. If there is no current selection, the contents of the active layer will be removed. If the active layer has an Alpha channel, the deleted selection will be made transparent. The original color can be restored to the transparent area using the Eraser tool if it is set to Anti-Erase. If the layer does not have an alpha channel, the deleted area will be filled using the current background color.

Clearing a selection will not delete the selection itself. Unlike Cut , clear will not place the deleted contents in the Clipboard and the contents of the clipboard are unaffected.