How to change the terminal to the current directory in visual studio code ? (hotkey) [duplicate]

Question

In class we had a hotkey for using the terminal with the currently choosen directory. I fixed an issue now with the debugger and everything seems to run smoothly now. Yet, what hotkey fixes this issue?

Kahlil

code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/integrated-terminal – Ul

If I use the View: Toggle Integrated Terminal command the terminal opens just as toggle terminal. But, the directory is not opening. – Kahlil

Answer 1

With VSCode 1.39 (Sept. 2019), no more plugin needed.
You now can "Open new terminals with custom working directories"

There is a new command that allows the creation of terminals with a custom current working directory (cwd):

{
  "key": "cmd+shift+c",
  "command": "workbench.action.terminal.newWithCwd",
  "args": {
    "cwd": "${fileDirname}"
  }
}

You can create your own keyboard shortcuts to open new terminals in any number of handy working directories.
The cwd value can either be a normal path or a variable.

---

ChrisoLosoph mentions in the comments:

What to do with the pasted code snippet:

• press F1,
• Enter, and
• select "Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON)"
• and paste it there.

Polity

Haven't needed a plugin to change the current terminal working directory for a few months. – Stadiometer

@Stadiometer Agreed. This is for creating a new terminal. – Polity

Yes, as detailed in my linked answer ;>} – Stadiometer

Thanks, but for a newbie coming from Atom, what do I actually have to do?! Where is that snippet? – Preoccupy

@Preoccupy You can see it in action in github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/156461. But that issue also illustrates it might not always work as well as expected. – Polity

The shortcut mentioned above is not working for me, - CTRL+Shift+H is already a keyboard shortcut for workbench.action.replaceInFiles. (Probably a change in newer VS Code versions) – Robbegrillet

@Robbegrillet Thank you for the feedback. I believe this is now Ctrl+Shift+c. – Polity

Ctrl+Shift+c opens Windows Command prompt (cmd), it doesn't open the integrated terminal. Is that the expected behaviour? – Robbegrillet

@Robbegrillet Yes it is. I did not found newWithCwd with the latest VSCode versions. – Polity

If others didn't understand either, what to do with the pasted code snippet: press F1, enter and select "Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON)" and paste it there. – Swahili

@Swahili Good point, thank you for your feedback. I have included your comment in the answer for more visibility. – Polity

Answer 2

For a hotkey to quickly set your terminal folder to your current directory, see How to quickly change shell folder to match the currently open file

{
  "key": "alt+t",
  "command": "workbench.action.terminal.sendSequence",
  "args": {"text": "cd '${fileDirname}'\u000D"}
},

This will change your current terminal, not open a new terminal - if you want to do that see the link above as well for the new command recently added to vscode.

Note that on windows, you must use the following instead:

"args": {"text": "cd /d \"${fileDirname}\"\u000D"}

This is because on Windows, the /d parameter must be used with cd to switch drives.

Stadiometer

This will also change focus (copy paste to understand) { "key": "ctrl+shift+'", "command": "runCommands", "args": { "commands": [ "workbench.action.terminal.focus", { "command": "workbench.action.terminal.sendSequence", "args": { "text": "cd '${fileDirname}'\u000D" } } ] } }, – Stutter

Answer 3

By default, the terminal will open at the folder that is opened in the Explorer. The hotkey for that depends on your operating system, in my case, on macOS, it's ⌃ + `, on Windows I think it's ctrl + j.

If you want to open at a specific folder you can change that behaviour with this setting:

{
    "terminal.integrated.cwd": "/home/user"
}

If you want to open at the current file's directory you can install an extension like Terminal Here.

You can change the shortcuts/hotkeys for many actions on Code. For that open the Keyboard Shortcuts editor under File > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts and search for Toggle Integrated Terminal.

Vaucluse

Thank you for your answer! Our professor showed us a hotkey, so I want to ask now in the industry would people use a hotkey or terminal here. Is there not a hotkey I can set ? I found two more convenient ways for me. Where do I add this in the json.file for user settings ? – Kahlil

Hi @DimitriWilliams, I edited my answer, check it out. Let me know if you need more help. – Vaucluse

Hi @Diogo Rocha this is exactly what is not working. I can open the terminal, but not the directory where I opened the file, where I am writing code. I changed File > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts and search for Toggle Integrated Terminal. To a Key Command / Hotkey and it only opens the workspace folder, not the folder with the code inside the terminal. – Kahlil

So I would suggest you to install the "Terminal Here" extension, and set a custom keyboard shortcut for that. – Vaucluse

That helped and worked immediately, I will remember this till the end of the extension. Thank you! – Kahlil