Clearing interface counters

[paul.tower]

Hi, I'm looking to identify the unused ports on all of our switches.

So I want to reset the statistics under "show interface summary".  I run that command, and then "clear counters" and confirm "y".  When I then run sho int sum the output is similar to previous and not what I expect which would be all zeros.  Looking at sho int the output tells me those counters were cleared but the numbers remain more or less unchanged.

Am I totally misunderstanding what clear count does?  I understand the figure is a five minute average however it seems that clearing the counter would result in clear counters period.

Is there a way to reset those statistics across the board?

Thanks in advance for any help! 

[marce1000]

  - Provide screenshot of observed output.

 M.

[pieterh · Accepted solution]

the counters you refer to are the 5-min interval counters,

clear counters clears the cumulative counters shown by 
       show interface counters
and show interface counters error

[paul.tower]

That works for me.  I show interface counters, clear them, and watch them increment.

Thanks