Is there a better Windows Console Window? [closed]

Question

I find working on the command line in Windows frustrating, primarily because the console window is wretched to use compared to terminal applications on linux and OS X such as "rxvt", "xterm", or "Terminal". Major complaints:

1. No standard copy/paste. You have to turn on "mark" mode and it's only available from a multi-level popup triggered by the (small) left hand corner button. Then copy and paste need to be invoked from the same menu

2. You can't arbitrarily resize the window by dragging, you need to set a preference (back to the multi-level popup) each time you want to resize a window

3. You can only make the window so big before horizontal scroll bars enter the picture. Horizontal scroll bars suck.

4. With the cmd.exe shell, you can't navigate to folders with \\netpath notation (UNC?), you need to map a network drive. This sucks when working on multiple machines that are going to have different drives mapped

Are there any tricks or applications, (paid or otherwise), that address these issue?

Yasui

Try any of the things suggested when I asked this question. – Genro

I would suggest retitling this as "terminal" is not the right word in regards to the windows command shell. On a unix system the command shell and your terminal application are essentially the same, on a windows system they are not. – Salutary

@Wedge: on a unix system, the command shell is (nowadays) bash and the terminal application is xterm or gnome-terminal or… so I hardly can perceive them as being essentially the same. – Superfluid

Like what ΤΖΩΤΖΙΟΥ said, it's actually the other way around. Windows has its 'terminal window' and its shell in one executable, cmd.exe. Unix-like operating systems have a separate program for the shell (usually bash, dash, sh, csh, ksh, zsh, I could go on but I won't) and the terminal emulator (gnome-terminal, konsole, xterm`, etc.) – Bridges

@Delan: Not true at all. The "cmd.exe" application is a command shell, equivalent to bash or others. The "console window" is built into Windows, and has special properties. You can use alternative command shells, such as PowerShell, 4NT, or even command.com if you like. – Theona

It's surprising (and disturbing for what is generally an extremely knowledgeable native population) how many people don't know the difference between the command shell (cmd, command.com, powershell, 4nt, bash, what have you) and the console-type window provided by Windows. – Theona

Not quite true, Mark. You see, on Windows, both the shell and the terminal emulator are stuck together, i.e., cmd.exe always uses the cmd.exe shell, command.com always uses the command.com shell, etc. On Linux operating systems, any terminal emulator (e.g. gnome-terminal, konsole, xterm) can work with any shell (bash, dash, ksh, csh). – Bridges

See also this SuperUser question about replacing the Windows console (despite what its title may lead you to think). – Sennacherib

This question may be better in the SuperUser community than Stack Overflow – Dearden

might also want to consider PoshConsole: poshconsole.codeplex.com – Scalar

@Delan: Actually Mark is correct. cmd.exe is a shell, akin to bash. The "Windows terminal" is called the "Console subsystem", and is implemented by csrss.exe. – Victualler

Why is this question closed for crying out loud. People end up here very often as it is high in google results. Today I think the bliker.github.io/cmder should be the best answer to this question, yet is not possible to add this answer. – Katinakatine

@Kuba: It isn't a programming question. It asks for software recommendations. Therefore off-topic twice over. And it misunderstands the underlying design, so it isn't even that useful a starting point for discussion. – Victualler

Answer 1

Sorry for the self-promotion, I'm the author of another Console Emulator, not mentioned here.

ConEmu is opensource console emulator with tabs, which represents multiple consoles and simple GUI applications as one customizable GUI window.

Initially, the program was designed to work with Far Manager (my favorite shell replacement - file and archive management, command history and completion, powerful editor). But ConEmu can be used with any other console application or simple GUI tools (like PuTTY for example). ConEmu is a live project, open to suggestions.

A brief excerpt from the long list of options:

• Latest versions of ConEmu may set up itself as default terminal for Windows
• Use any font installed in the system, or copied to a folder of the program (ttf, otf, fon, bdf)
• Run selected tabs as Administrator (Vista+) or as selected user
• Windows 7 Jump lists and Progress on taskbar
• Integration with DosBox (useful in 64bit systems to run DOS applications)
• Smooth resize, maximized and fullscreen window modes
• Scrollbar initially hidden, may be revealed by mouseover or checkbox in settings
• Optional settings (e.g. pallette) for selected applications
• User friendly text and block selection (from keyboard or mouse), copy, paste, text search in console
• ANSI X3.64 and Xterm 256 color

Far Manager users will acquire shell style drag-n-drop, thumbnails and tiles in panles, tabs for editors and viewers, true colors and font styles (italic/bold/underline).

PS. Far Manager supports UNC paths (\\server\share\...)

Apeman

+1 for ConEmu. Just discovered it today and have been hugely impressed so far. Have used Console2 up until today but this looks like it will be my new console of choice. – Seato

As a long-time user of Console 2, I switched to ConEmu recently and have not looked back. This is so much better than anything that has come before it almost defies belief. Plus is is being rapidly developed (thanks Maximus!) with juicy new features appearing often enough to make it feel exciting. If you've not tried this, do it now. I have no hesitation in recommending it as the best console emulator on Windows. – Awning

Another +1 from a new user. This is a console for developers, by developers. It seems like every time I think "well, it would be nice if it did _____", there's an option for it. Major thanks for fixing such a broken console experience in Windows! – Madonnamadora

Does ConEmu support SGR (underline, blinking, etc) ANSI codes? I wasn't able to get it work with initial testing. Maybe I'm overlooking something. – Schofield

Traditionally for dos/windows some SGR codes like underline or blinking are threated as "intensity" for text/background. Underline/bold/italic ara available for xterm-256color mode. – Apeman

@Apeman When i try using ConEmu with python, i noticed that binding tab to autocomplete with readline doesn't work anymore? Any suggestions to restore this functionality? – Croak

@Maximus, nevermind tab to autocomplete does work in a sample CLI i jsut ran... there must be something in my script which messes it up. ConEmu is awesome! – Croak

Combine ConEmu with PowerShell and PSReadline (github.com/lzybkr/PSReadLine) to fill out the bash/*nix functionality you might be missing. – Mahaffey

Answer 2

Try Console 2.

Console is a Windows console window enhancement. Console features include: multiple tabs, text editor-like text selection, different background types, alpha and color-key transparency, configurable font, different window styles

Brunson

I'm using Vista and Console 2 (and 1.5) crashes very often. – Bister

This works very well for me under 64-bit XP. Using it with both cmd.exe and Cygwin bash. – Cotquean

do you know how i can make console open at a directory that i right click at? in win7, you can shift-right-click on a directory, and select 'open commandline here', but it doesnt seem possible to change that program to console2. – Chinchy

@Chii: That's certainly possible to do (Git for Windows, for example, has a "Git Bash here" right click option). I'm not sure how to do it exactly, but that would be a great question for superuser.com. – Brunson

Answer 3

Take Command. This one has been around for a long time (formerly 4DOS). I used this on Windows NT 3.5 (!) and loved it.

Cygwin lets you run X on Windows, so you can fire up xterm or whatever terminal app you prefer, and also get the benefit of using a UNIX shell.

Alwin

I'm not looking for a different shell interpreter, it's the application itself I loath. Cygwin suffers the same problems and I got the impression somewhere that Windows PowerShell does as well. Is that impression wrong? – Yasui

Yes, powershell's got the same problem. – Discrete

Just reread my response, any loathing was directed at windows, and not you for being helpful :) – Yasui

Powershell uses the same command shell host so it doesn't solve these problems. – Salutary

@Wedge: By "command shell host" I assume you mean "console window". Console windows are a special type of window. It's got nothing to do with cmd.exe or PowerShell or anything else. – Theona

@Alan: it's not the application you don't like. The "application" here is "cmd.exe", "powershell.exe", or "bash.exe" or whatever. What you don't like is the console window provided by Windows. Completely different thing. Re: your answer, "Take Command" replaces your console window, while PowerShell is a command interpreter. They do completely different things. – Theona

@jsplaine I totally agree! Windows needs to provide something better out of the box. That default command prompt window is embarrassing. I really want a decent port of guake on windows. – Ibarra

Answer 4

1. Turn on quickedit mode (but selection is still rectangular instead of line-wrapped)
2. Resizing by dragging works for me
3. You can change the buffer size which will impact when scrollbars appear
4. pushd \\server\share

Even with those, cmd.exe isn't a great console. See all the other replies and the earlier stackoverflow questions on the same subject. The "Console" project from sourceforge looks pretty good.

Theatrics

Resizing beyond 80 characters doesn't work. – Corcyra

I stand corrected: you have to pre-re-size the window by editing the shortcut to Cmd.exe or Git Bash or whatnot. That and Quick Edit mode seems to rectify a lot of my issues with the built-in Windows terminal. – Corcyra

+1 for pushd. That's gonna save me some time! – Miaow

Answer 5

Console

From documentation:

NOTE: Console is NOT a shell. Therefore, it does not implement shell features like command-line completion, syntax coloring, command history, etc.

Console is simply a nice-looking front end for a shell of your choice (cmd.exe, 4NT, bash, etc.) Other command-line utilities can also be used as 'shells' by Console.

As a programming shell one can use ipython.

Berard

Answer 6

I've had these issues too for years on Windows, but I recently found this project: Console

It still requires "mark mode" for copy/paste, but at least it's available from a right-click contextual menu (so you don't need to move the mouse to the top left and then move it again to the text you want to select)

UNC paths are not supported by cmd.exe but they are supported by PowerShell. (Console can be configured to use any shell, including cmd.exe and PowerShell)

Lyns

Answer 7

I use Cygwin inside the Poderosa terminal emulator.

Timofei

Answer 8

I personally use Mintty. Therefore I use Cygwin (because thats the only shell it supports, as far as I know).

BTW There is another question: better command for Windows? I found.

Depict

mintty is absolutely terrific. It even supports X-style copy and paste on mouse highlight and middle mouse button. – Aloha

Answer 9

I think you will love PowerCMD which you can work 4 command windows at the same time. Also, you can use many extra commands inside the PowerCMD. PowerCMD

Aldosterone

Answer 10

Use Gow.exe .. This will make your DOS-Prompt as Linux terminal...

else

Use ZOC.exe...its Trial-period terminal...

else

Install Git .. it gives a bash-console from where u can use unix commands, partially

Aside

Answer 11

There is a small program mo.exe on github that solves the first three issues: https://github.com/boolship/Mo

It runs in normal DOS console window, Git Bash on Windows, etc.

update:

That link is now deprecated, use: https://github.com/boolship/MoDi

Protective

Answer 12

Take a look at Take Command.

Take Command is a comprehensive interactive GUI and command line environment that makes using the Windows command prompt and creating batch files easy and far more powerful.

(Take Command is, however, "not free".)

Smollett

I use take command a lot. It does copy/paste, drag-resize, etc. – Boarfish

Answer 13

I'm using Terminals for remote connection via Telnet, RDC, SSH, ... Combines most used protocolls in one program.

URL: http://www.codeplex.com/Terminals

Refuge

Answer 14

Why not use Putty?

Limner

PuTTYCyg is looking for a maintainer. Also see the PuTTY maintainer's remarks on PuTTY hosting a Windows command prompt. – Getraer

Answer 15

I use rxvt from cygwin. It behaves very much like an xterm.

Tenerife