3 reasons why the Windows 10 command prompt is the bomb diggy

The command prompt has been adored by windows administrators and power users for years.  Proficient command prompt aficionados could bang out commands and get results seconds before their less nimble peers who were still fettered to the Windows GUI.

But despite the utility of the command prompt there were always a few things that bothered me.  The Mac terminal window looked cooler than the Windows command prompt.  That frosty, diaphanous, terminal window was legendary and really made using the terminal more enjoyable.

There were ways to hack the command prompt to make it look sexier but sometimes it didn’t always work.

The other little thing that bothered me was the fact that I couldn’t easily copy and paste commands into the windows command prompt.

Admins were basically forced to take the circuitous path of right clicking the window and choosing Paste from the context menu.

Well – I’ve had enough of the shenanigans and I’m here to avow that in Windows 10 all your command prompt dreams come true.

In this post I’m going to show you 3 reasons why the Windows 10 command prompt is the bomb diggy.  I can’t get enough of it.

Check it out yo.

1. Making the command prompt ghosty

First let’s make it sexy.

To adjust the transparency of the command prompt window, right click the title bar and choose Properties.

Click the Experimental tab and then put a check in Enable experimental console features (applies globally).

This makes the Opacity slider leap to life.  Now you you spend your Saturday afternoon sliding the bar back and forth until you find the perfect translucence.

Click OK and changes are immediate.  There’s no need to restart the console window.

2. Enabling Ctrl + c and Ctrl + v

You can start copying and pasting text into the command prompt using Ctrl + c and Ctrl + v by revisiting theExperimental tab and placing a check in Enable new Ctrl key shortcuts.

Click OK, restart the command prompt and then start pasting text in with Ctrl + v!

Oh wait – I should mention something: since Ctrl + c is now assigned to copying text you can’t use it to terminate a stubborn process from the command line.

Technically, you could try Ctrl + break to kill a frozen process but I think Ctrl + c is the preferred way of extricating yourself from command line emergencies.

3. Dynamically resize text

In prior versions of Windows, if the command prompt output was longer than the window width a horizontal scroll bar would appear allowing you to scroll right to read the rest of the text.

Well in Windows 10, you can now automatically wrap text in real-time as you expand and contract the width of the command window.

In the Experimental tab, just check Wrap text output on resize, relaunch the command window, bang out your favorite command and start stretching and squeezing the window width until it sings.

lol.

Cool eh?

The Bottom Line

Microsoft is listening!

Well, at least when it comes to improving the functionality of the command prompt.  The new features such asopacity, word wrap and keyboard shortcuts makes using the command prompt fun again.

How’s your experience been with the Windows 10 command prompt? Please share your story in the comments below.  Do you know of any other shortcuts?