Clearing the terminal before displaying MOTD

Question

When I connect to my SSH server, it prompts me for the user name and password. After I have authenticated, it will display my MOTD, then show user prompt, like this:

Using username "root".
Authenticating with public key "everssh"
this is my motd
root@debian:~#

I want to edit some file so that the screen is cleared before the MOTD prints (so basically calling the clear command would do). I heard that the MOTD is displayed by using cat /etc/motd in a startup file, however after searching around I can't find where it is called from.

Does anyone know how I can find it?

Answer 1

The motd is indeed taken from the /etc/motd file, but it is not displayed using cat or any other external command: the SSH server does it internally, using the pam_motd PAM module.

If you want the screen to be cleared when the motd is displayed _{(wouldn't it be annoying, though?)}, you add use the ANSI sequences ESC [ H and ESC [ J to the beginning of /etc/motd contents.

• To insert the ESC character in Vim, press Ctrl+V, Esc; in Nano, press Alt+V, Esc.

• Insert [ and H using [ and Shift+H.

• Repeat to insert ESC [ J.