5.08.2010

Copying and pasting from the command prompt

How to copy and paste from the command prompt:Please note that the following tips assume you have the command prompt open

Copying text from the commandprompt

If you are trying to copy text from the command prompt, you may be having a tough time. Pressing ctrl + c will result in the string "^C" being displayed on the current line. Furthermore, it is impossible to select text using the mouse. To copy text from cmd, do the following:



  • Right click on the title bar of the commandprompt (by default the title bar will have the text "C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe")
  • In the context menu that appears after clicking, hover over the word "Edit"
  • Click on the worlds "Select All"
  • Repeat the above steps however you should click on "Copy" rather than "Select All" in the last step.
After following these steps the text should be in your clipboard and you can paste the text normally.



Pasting text into the command prompt

Pasting text into the command prompt may prove to be an annoying task similarly to copying from cmd. Pressing ctrl + v will show as "^V" in your commandline. To paste into the command line, just follow the following steps:



  • Right click on the bar above the command prompt containing the text "C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe".
  • Hover over the word "Edit" in the new menu that has appeared.
  • Click on the word "Paste"
After following the above steps you should have pasted the contents of your clip board into cmd. Be careful, sometimes commands will execute automatically when you paste.


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7.03.2009

Command Prompt Navigation, Directories and Drives

Navigating the command prompt, as well as changing drives and directories is important skill to have. To do this, you must learn a few commands that you must enter into the command prompt

Navigating in the commandprompt is extremely simple. Remember to open your command prompt before trying to use this guide.

Changing directories

Changing directories (or changing your path) in the command prompt makes use of the CD command. The CD command has a small amount of possible arguments. CD accepts a drive and a path. For example, the command "CD C:\WINDOWS\system32" changes the directory to the system32 folder on the C drive. The letter C followed by a colon is the drive identifier followed by a separator respectively. All that comes after the colon is a path.

The CD command is relative to the directory you are already in, so you can navigate backwards to the parent folder. After entering "CD C:\WINDOWS\system32", you should be in the system32 folder. To reach the parent folder, WINDOWS, you can use the command "CD ..". You can also navigate to the root of the drive by using the command "CD \".

In the case that your desired folder or path has a space within it, you can encapsulate it in quotation marks.

If your drive/path combination is to a different drive than you are currently in, you need to add the /D argument to the CD command. For example, if I was currently in the A drive, and I wanted to go to navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32, I would use "CD /D C:\WINDOWS\system32".

Listing directories

Directory and file listing and ordering can be done with the DIR command. Like the CD command, the DIR command is relative to the directory it is in and can also take paths. For instance, if I would like a list of all of the folders in C:\WINDOWS and I was currently in C:\WINDOWS\system32 I could enter "DIR "../"".

Results can also be listed using various order schemes. To change the way DIR orders the output, add the /O argument to it. The /O argument needs to be followed by a colon and a sortorder type. The available types are by name (n), by extension (e), directories listed first (g), by size (s) and by date/time (d). Using - as a prefix to one of the types reverses the output order. If I wanted to display all of the files and directories in the folder I was currently in using reverse alphabetical ordering, I could type "DIR /O:-n".

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5.20.2009

Using traceroute in command prompt

Traceroute is a valuable tool when trying debug your internet or lan connection and for seeing what your computer may connect to on its way to remote webservers. It also has many other purposes.

Traceroute (used in windows) comes in two forms currently. Both forms can be utilized through the command prompt. First, you need to open up the command prompt. After opening, you can access either version of traceroute by using the command tracert (for IPv4) and tracert6 (for IPv6). Both function similarly, and if you are unsure of which to use, IPv4 is probably the one you need to use.

By default, traceroute only needs one argument to display data. Traceroute requires that you give it an ip address or a domain name (i.e. your destination). For example, for me to use traceroute to see what my information goes through to get to google, I would type "tracert www.google.com" into the command prompt. The commandprompt will start spitting out data about your connections as it is recieved, so it may take some time.

Both versions of traceroute support other arguments. One of the most useful of them is the timeout argument, represented by -w. If you are performing a traceroute and certain devices are taking a long time to respond, you can filter them out using a timeout. For example, if you set the time out to 3000 miliseconds and if a host does not respond in 3 seconds, your computer will ignore that host, speeding up your tracert. If I want to see all of my computer network's relays to google, but timeout when responses take over 2 seconds, I would use the following command: "tracert -w 2000 www.google.com".

In addition to that, another useful parameter is the -h (hops) limit. It will limit tracert to a certain number of hops before it stops trying to reach the target. For example, if I only need the first 3 hops in my previous tracert to google, I could add in "-h 3". The final result would be
"tracert -h 3 -w 2000 www.google.com".

Remember, if you are having internet connection issues or problems, you can probably find a 'missing link' or a slow responding host using the traceroute command in the command prompt.


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5.16.2009

Making command prompt fullscreen easily

It is pretty easy to make your command prompt window fullscreen. With these few simple steps, the commandprompt will overtake your screen.
Making the command prompt full screen is really simple. In fact, it does not even require a post on it's own nor any codes, but I am doing it for the sake of organization.

There are two ways to make the command prompt fullscreen. The first (and most popular way) is to press alt (right or left alt, doesn't matter) and enter simultaneously. Please note the cmd window must be open at the time, or it will not work. The second way is to open a command prompt window. Upon opening the window, right click on the action bar above the window and select properties. A dialog box should appear on your screen above the command prompt. In the Display Options box, there are two options, Window and Full Screen. Click on full screen and then hit Ok. The console window should be full screen.

To exit fullscreen mode, simply press alt and enter simultaneously. In addition, any event that happens outside of the command prompt may cause it to go back to windowed mode.

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