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Windows Forum / Windows XP / New Users / January 2005Command prompt keyboard shortcuts in XP?
Hi! Are the command prompt editing keyboards available in XP? In the dark ages I could use F3 to complete a previous command and the arrow keys were quite helpful. These keys don't seem to work at a command prompt in XP Home Edition. Any ideas on how to enable them? Thanks! Spike > Hi! > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Spike You're not thinking of the good old days of 'Edlin' are you? Once you have entered a command or two in a command window the up/down arrow keys allow you to scroll through those commands. You can also enter partial names and use the tab key for auto completion (for files/folders in the current folder).  SignatureJeff Gaines Posted with XanaNews 1.17.1.2 Are you running command.com or cmd.exe? You should normally use the latter in XP. It supports F1 and F3 the same old way. Additionally F7 (list command queue) and F9 (select command by queue number). Signature> Hi! > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Spike if you are running cmd.exe try these: F1 Repeats the letters of the last command line, one by one F2 Displays a dialog asking user to "enter the char to copy up to" of the last command line F3 Repeats the last command line F4 Displays a dialog asking user to "enter the char to delete up to" of the last command line F5 Goes back one command line F6 Enters the traditional CTRL+Z (^z) F7 Displays a menu with the command line history F8 Cycles back through previous command lines (beginning with most recent) F9 Displays a dialog asking user to enter a command number, where 0 is for first command line entered hth george > Hi! > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Spike Hi, George. Thank you! And GTS, too! I've been working with MS-DOS since the early 1980s and spend much of each day in WinXP's "DOS" window, but I never knew about F7 and F9 - and some of those others. I've wished for such functions, but didn't know they were there. RC SignatureR. C. White, CPA San Marcos, TX rc@corridor.net Microsoft Windows MVP > if you are running cmd.exe try these: > F1 Repeats the letters of the last command line, one by one [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] >> >> Spike You're welcome. One additional remark though. There are two command processors in Win XP (or W2K or NT4 for that matter) One is called cmd.exe which basically is a regular WIN XP process fire it up and you'll see: Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp. C:\Documents and Settings\george That's the one that 'knows' about these F-keys. The other one is a Virtual DOS machine (ie. environment; visible as the process called NTVDM.EXE) that mimics MS-DOS behaviour and is called command.com. Fire it up and you'll see: Microsoft(R) Windows DOS (C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1990-2001. C:\DOCUME~1\GEORGE> As such it basically does only 'know' about things that MS-DOS 'knew' about (see the 8.3 short-names) The F-keys behave as in MS-DOS and up/down arrow keys don't cycle through the command history either. :-)) george > Hi, George. > [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] >>> >>> Spike Oh yeah, it also requires 'extra' handling when closing it. Try closing it withthe X (top right hand). The OS guards you against a possible app still running that was started through this command window. You either have to aknowledge the termination of the command window or explicitely type exit in it. george > Hi, George. > [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] >>> >>> Spike Hi, George. Yeah, I know about Cmd.exe and Command.com. As I said, I have at least one "DOS" window open most of the day. (Dir /s /a works a heck of a lot quicker than WinXP's Search - and actually finds files!) But I didn't know about F7 and some of those others. RC SignatureR. C. White, CPA San Marcos, TX rc@corridor.net Microsoft Windows MVP > Oh yeah, > [quoted text clipped - 49 lines] >>>> >>>> Spike |
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