Better windows command line shells

Question

Is there a better windows command line shell other than cmd which has better copy paste between Windows' windows and console windows?

score 58 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 21 '13 at 09:26

58

Enable QuickEdit mode, under the Options tab of your shortcut to the command shell. Mark with the mouse, right-click to copy, right-click again to paste.

While you're there, enable a hotkey (like CTRL + ALT + C) for lightning fast access to the shell.

And no, you can't have CTRL + C for COPY, because CTRL + C means BREAK.

On a related note, the Microsoftee who changed the default setting of QuickEdit mode between Windows Server 2000 and 2003 is an idiot and I heap curses upon him each workday.

edited Jul 21 '13 at 09:26

RiaD

46,822
11
79
123

answered Sep 13 '09 at 14:25

nray

2,088
4
14
11

Quick edit mode used to be standard in w2k. One of the first things I do when "making my self at home" on a new computer. – QueueHammer Jan 06 '12 at 04:19
2

If you use [clink](http://code.google.com/p/clink/) you can set up CTRL+SHIFT+V for paste and much more! – orlp Jan 15 '13 at 12:06
In Windows 7 (at least) you can also switch to _QuickEdit_ mode by right-clicking the title bar of your cmd/powershell window and selecting it under **properties** or you can make it the default by selecting it under **defaults**. This is particularly useful if you use Windows Explorer context menus to invoke your shells instead of a windows shortcut. – Glenn Lawrence Jul 06 '15 at 02:42

score 25 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 08 '08 at 06:17

25

Windows PowerShell is the obvious choice when it comes to "better windows command line shell other than cmd". Its clipboard handling isn't that much of an improvement - mark with the mouse, Enter to copy, or right mouse click to paste.

answered Aug 08 '08 at 06:17

Matt Hamilton

200,371
61
386
320

8

To be honest, clipboard handling is *exactly* the same as with any other console application as the console host handles that, not the application running in the console. – Joey Jan 08 '11 at 21:30
I honestly don't understand why MS has their head so firmly wedged on this. Just fix it, it's 2018. I was very disappointed when I installed the new linux subsystem stuff only to find the same crappy "terminal" window. – Brett Wagner Aug 29 '18 at 20:12

score 21 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 24 '14 at 06:24

21

This probably is not exactly what you want, but you can take a look at Console2

I have it configured so that shift+select auto copies and middle click pastes, really handy, internally it uses same old cmd.exe so you are not really getting a different shell.

By the way, I guess Ctrl+C = copy is not the best idea in a command line context because it usually means interrupt running process.

edited Feb 24 '14 at 06:24

vahid abdi

9,636
4
29
35

answered Aug 08 '08 at 11:06

Pat

36,282
18
72
87

For Linux shells, Ctrl-Char commands (like copy) are usually replaced with Ctrl-Shift-Char – Peter Sep 13 '09 at 14:53
1

Console 2 was horribly buggy last time I looked. – Joey Oct 23 '09 at 17:18
+1 I found out about Console 2 from this post and have been using it extensively for the past 6 months. It's NOT a replacement for the command. It is, in fact, a shell for shells that allows for configurability that is not present in either the Command shell or the standard PowerShell. – Abbas Jan 31 '12 at 15:08
2

This is a console/terminal emulator, not a shell. – orlp Jan 15 '13 at 12:07
@nightcracker hence my comment "you are not really getting a different shell" still it solves his problem of getting better / more configurable copy paste support – Pat Jan 15 '13 at 13:34

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '12 at 04:41

11

Take Command does support Copy/Cut/Paste from the keyboard and the mouse. It's pretty handy if you do a lot of work from a command prompt. It also supports:

Command and folder history, with popup windows to select prior commands or folders.
Screen scroll back buffer
Enhanced batch commands
Built in FTP/HTTP file access
A toolbar with programmable buttons

Note: It's a paid tool, with price of $99.95.

edited May 23 '12 at 04:41

mr.b

4,932
11
38
55

answered Aug 08 '08 at 11:59

Chris Miller

4,809
4
33
50

85

It is a paid tool ($99.95). It would be nice to make a note about this here. – agsamek Sep 13 '09 at 14:45
3

It's also worth noting that TC also invents it's own scripting language this is pretty much worthless for any other environment. --- Powershell, especially when used in the Powershell ISE, is a better choice. – ocodo Apr 28 '11 at 22:39
what about PowerShell?? – AminM Apr 01 '13 at 19:14

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 08 '08 at 12:54

4

Depending on what you're trying to do with the shell, rxvt in cygwin is good.

You'll get the nicety of auto copy on selection and middle click paste. The biggest downside is that some windows console apps don't play nice with cygwin.

answered Aug 08 '08 at 12:54

TJR

3,617
8
38
41

4

If you're going for cygwin, puttycyg is a great choice: http://code.google.com/p/puttycyg/ – glenn jackman Sep 13 '09 at 15:28
1

Also **mintty**, is very nice with cygwin. (it's also available in the cygwin installation/setup) – ocodo Apr 28 '11 at 22:44

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 26 '11 at 13:53

PowerCmd is cheaper than TakeCommand and has a lot of powerful features - not the least of which is better handling of Cut/Copy/Paste. I've only been using it a short time but I'm really impressed so far:

Summary from the site:

PowerCmd enhances your command prompt with an easy-to-use Windows GUI-style interface and allows you to run multiple consoles within a single tabbed window. You can easily organize multiple consoles in vertical, horizontal, and grid forms. Auto-log, auto-completion, keywords highlight, configurable font and colors, customizable toolbar for frequently used commands or tools and minimizing to tray are easy solutions to daily needs. With PowerCmd, you can save and restore your sessions from last time.

Site: http://www.powercmd.com/

Features: http://www.powercmd.com/features.php

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 28 '13 at 13:07

There are two portion to cmd.exe. First there is the window that pops up for dealing with the text console. I would replace that with ConEmu. That program is actually meant as a wrapper for the Far File manager but works just fine without it. It is very similar to Console2 but also is much more stable and has better features.

Second there is the command line interpreter. I would replace that with Powershell if you actually need any of its features.

I currently run using ConEmu with a batch file to setup my preferred environment. This is kept in my Dropbox folder so it remains synchronized between my computers.

score 2 · Answer 8 · edited Aug 20 '15 at 22:26

2

Have you thought through what behavior you want to replace the current Ctrl+C functionality?

edited Aug 20 '15 at 22:26

Valery Viktorovsky

6,487
3
39
47

answered Aug 31 '08 at 01:16

Joel Coehoorn

399,467
113
570
794

Lasse V. Karlsen · Answer 9 · 2008-08-08T11:11:34.617

2

Not sure what specifically you mean by better copy/paste but try Take Command.

Take Command supports Shift+Ins for paste and Shift+Del for cut, but apparently nothing for copy, will dig some more.

edited Aug 08 '08 at 11:11

answered Aug 08 '08 at 06:16

Lasse V. Karlsen

380,855
102
628
825

You can configure Take Command to send one of the control keys to Take Command and the other to the running app. You could use Left-Ctrl-C to copy to the clipboard and Right-CtrL-C to send the Ctrl-C cancel signal to the application. – Chris Miller Sep 14 '09 at 16:05
Uh Take Command is $99! – jsplaine Dec 20 '13 at 17:24

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 15 '12 at 04:22

1

Console 2

http://sourceforge.net/projects/console/

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Console2ABetterWindowsCommandPrompt.aspx

answered Feb 15 '12 at 04:22

Ashley Davis

9,896
7
69
87

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Sep 15 '12 at 16:10

0

MinTTY on MinGW/MSYS is nice—nicer than on Cygwin because MinGW/MSYS is faster. Also, if you need cmd.exe behaviour, you can run cmd.exe inside of mintty easily.

See http://code.google.com/p/mintty/.

answered Sep 15 '12 at 16:10

Erik Kaplun

37,128
15
99
111

score 0 · Answer 12 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

0

I use the standard CMD.EXE shell but with a twist: an AutoHotKey script to support clipboard copy-paste as posted in: Keyboard shortcut to paste clipboard content into command prompt window (Win XP)

edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

Community

1
1

answered Mar 18 '10 at 20:34

PabloG

25,761
10
46
59

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Sep 05 '08 at 15:44

@Chirs
I think you need to clarify shell vs host(emulator). To me it sounds like you need another interface to your existing shell that better supports copy and paste, not another shell that supports more/different features.

I second Pat's suggestion of Console2, it is a very good application and OSS to boot.

score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Jan 07 '11 at 16:24

The Windows cmd shell, Cygwin Bash, and msysgit Bash shells can be run within Emacs. EmacsW32 provides all three separately. You just have to set the bin directory to use either of the Bash shells. EmacsW32 also provides limited interactions between the Windows clipboard and the top item of the kill ring.

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Feb 15 '12 at 06:14

0

MinGW Shell properly set up with:

right click menu entry
~/.profile file

is well above anything else I have tried.

answered Feb 15 '12 at 06:14

Zombo

1
62
391
407

links are down.. – mr.b May 22 '12 at 22:57

Better windows command line shells

15 Answers15

Linked