diff --git a/Lib/test/regrtest.py b/Lib/test/regrtest.py
index 4d13fc76a3c..a82c6ee70e5 100755
--- a/Lib/test/regrtest.py
+++ b/Lib/test/regrtest.py
@@ -847,6 +847,7 @@ def runtest(test, verbose, quiet,
             if runtest.stringio is None:
                 runtest.stringio = io.StringIO()
             stream = runtest.stringio
+            stream.truncate(0)
 
             orig_stdout = sys.stdout
             orig_stderr = sys.stderr