The Windows command prompt has long been a convenient way to run certain commands or command strings that you can't easily run within Windows itself. That tradition carries over into Windows 10, with a few cool new features.
You can resize the window horizontally as wide as you want. You can set the text to wrap around to the next line precisely so you can more easily read the entire command. And you can use the old standby Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V keyboard strokes to copy and paste text to and from a command prompt. Let's check it out.
Right-click on the Windows 10 Start button. From the pop-up menu, click on the command for Command Prompt. At the prompt, type the command "help," which displays a list of all available commands. Ahh, but if your command prompt window is too narrow, you can't easily read all the text.
In previous versions of Windows, you wouldn't be able to see all the text, or you'd have to enlarge the window to decipher the text as it wrapped around to the next line. In Windows 10, though, you can simply drag and drop the right border of the window to increase the width as exactly as needed to more easily read each string of text.
You can also set the text to wrap around to the next line. This option is turned on by default, but you can still make sure it's enabled and see what happens if you turn it off. Click on the C:\ icon in the upper-left corner of the command prompt window. From the drop-down menu, click on the setting for Properties.
From the Properties window, click on the Layout tab. The option "Wrap text output on resize" should be checked. Uncheck it and then click OK.
Resize the window horizonally, and you'll see the text no longer wraps.
Go back to the Layout menu, recheck the option to wrap text and click OK. Resize the command prompt window, and the text once again wraps to the next line.
The copy-paste feature has also been enhanced in Windows 10. In prior versions of Windows, you'd have to select your text, click on the C:\ icon for the drop-down menu, choose the Edit command, move to your destination window, and then click on the Paste command. No more. Now you can simply copy and paste the text using the standard Windows keystrokes. After you select your text in the command prompt window, press Ctrl + C to copy it.
Move to your destination window and then press Ctrl + V to paste it.
Finally, the same useful settings and options from previous versions of Windows remain in force in Windows 10. From the Properties window, you can click on the Options menu to vary the size of the cursor, control how many commands can hang out in the memory buffer at once, and turn a variety of settings on and off.
From the Font menu, you can change the size and type of the font.
From the Layout menu, you can adjust the size of the command prompt window.
And from the Colors menu, you can splash some color onto the text and background of the command prompt window.
For more, check out these other Windows 10 tips:
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- How to Use and Tweak Your Windows 10 Lock Screen
- How to Manage the Start Menu in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update
- How to Try Out Windows 10 for Free for 90 Days
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- How to Juggle Multiple Windows 10 Apps With Virtual Desktops
- How to Free Up Disk Space on Your Windows 10 PC
- How to Launch Windows Without Entering a Password