Turbocharging the Windows Command Prompt

Re-entering previous commands

There are a number of options available to allow you to re-enter commands without typing them again:

• Use the [up-arrow] key to scroll through and re-select a previous command
• DOSKEY /history will output a list of previously entered commands
• Press [F7] to see a menu of previous commands
• enter the command and pipe to the clip command. This will copy the command entered to the clipboard e.g. dir | clip

Changing the command prompt

You can change the command prompt using the ‘prompt’ command. enter ‘prompt /?’ for full details. A useful option is:

prompt $T $P$G

This will include the current time in the prompt. This will only persist for the current session. To make it a default use REGEDIT and go to key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Command Processor

Then add a new String Value called Autorun with a value of prompt $T $P$G

Set the window title

You can set the title for the current command prompt window using the following command:

title [some window title text]

This is useful if you have multiple long running windows open, for example.

Run multiple commands simultaneously

use && to link the commands.

command 1 && command 2

Command Prompt Explorer Integrations

• In Explorer, type cmd in the path area to automatically open a command prompt at that location.
• Drag-and-drop a file or folder into an open command prompt window to enter the path automatically.