How to reduce the pain of the command prompt

How to reduce the pain of the command prompt

I want to learn to use the command prompt better on Windows to have more control over what I do and just for the learning experience. The main annoyance I have right now is all of the typing. If I want to perform an operation on a file with a large path I'm sitting there typing it out for a minute at least, and if I make a mistake I have to press the up arrow key and scroll through the entire thing and find what I did wrong. Is there any tools to make this easier?

Asked by: Guest | Views: 275

Total answers/comments: 3

Comments display order:

bert [Entry]

"If you intend to use the command prompt only under Windows, you could use Windows PowerShell, as it is easier to use than the initial command prompt, and copies some behavior from the *nix-like terminals. (It provides also a lot more functionalities, but at first, at least to me, it's an ""easier command shell"").

Edit: Changed picture for a more ""friendly"" one."

bert [Entry]

"Here are some more tips and tricks in using the command prompt including:

""...drag n' drop files or folders from
an explorer window into a command
prompt; this inserts the quoted path
as if you had manually pasted it...""

This is yet another way to reduce the amount of typing involved in long file paths."

bert [Entry]

"Often you can reduce your typing by being in the correct directory. You can open a command shell in the directory you see in an Explorer window by adding cmd.exe in the folder type associations.

(Tools - Folder Options - File Types - Folder - Advanced - New - cmd)

Then, when you select cmd by right-clicking on that folder the command window that opens will have as its current directory that of the folder you clicked on."
"Often you can reduce your typing by being in the correct directory. You can open a command shell in the directory you see in an Explorer window by adding cmd.exe in the folder type associations.

(Tools - Folder Options - File Types - Folder - Advanced - New - cmd)

Then, when you select cmd by right-clicking on that folder the command window that opens will have as its current directory that of the folder you clicked on."