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It is bit pain to work with Windows command prompt. I've been working with Linux and Windows. Linux terminal has more advantages than the XP command prompt, so I would like to use a Linux terminal on Windows. Does anyone know how can we do that ? I don't want to run Linux commands on Windows. But I like the features on Linux terminal so I want to use same features for the Windows command prompt or use Linux terminal on Windows.

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What are these "features" you like so much on Linux terminals that you wish were supported on Windows? It's difficult to recommend a terminal replacement without knowing exactly what features you are looking for! – Cody Gray Mar 12 '11 at 9:04

migrated from stackoverflow.com Mar 13 '11 at 19:49

4 Answers

up vote 13 down vote

Try cygwin and bash.

Most Linux users use bash so I'm guessing that's the console you are referring to.

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cygwin and bash forever! – asgs Mar 12 '11 at 9:05
The rxvt terminal is much better than the one that cygwin provides by default. Just install the rxvt package to get it. – intuited Mar 13 '11 at 20:08
I think the poster means an alternative to cmd.exe, not the ability to run *NIX commands or bash. From the post, "I don't want to run Linux commands on Windows." – Deleted Account Mar 13 '11 at 22:01
My reasoning is that if they want bash, then on Windows cygwin is probably the easiest way to do so. – David Heffernan Mar 13 '11 at 22:04
Cygwin rocks :)!! – Shenal Silva Nov 26 '12 at 7:57
up vote 7 down vote

Console is a Windows console window enhancement.

Console[2] still uses the Win32 console interface provided by Windows, but provides a wrapper around it with more features. cmd.exe is used as the default shell but it's configurable.

Mintty is a terminal emulator for Cygwin and Cygwin derivatives such as MSYS.

Using mintty is very much like using PuTTY to ssh into your own Cygwin installation, except without the ssh. It hooks into Cygwin's terminal emulation to provide a faithful UNIX terminal interface. However, this makes it unusable for programs expecting a Win32 console.

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up vote 4 down vote

Sorry for the self-promotion, I'm the author of another Console Emulator, not mentioned here.

ConEmu is opensource console emulator with tabs, which represents multiple consoles and simple GUI applications as one customizable GUI window.

Initially, the program was designed to work with Far Manager (my favorite shell replacement - file and archive management, command history and completion, powerful editor). But ConEmu can be used with any other console application or simple GUI tools (like PuTTY for example). ConEmu is a live project, open to suggestions.

A brief excerpt from the long list of options:

  • Latest versions of ConEmu may set up itself as default terminal for Windows
  • Split-screen supported
  • User friendly text and block selection (from keyboard or mouse), copy, paste, text search in console
  • Use any font installed in the system, or copied to a folder of the program (ttf, otf, fon, bdf)
  • Run selected tabs as Administrator (Vista+) or as selected user, csudo command for new tabs
  • Windows 7 Jump lists and Progress on taskbar
  • Integration with DosBox (useful in 64bit systems to run DOS applications)
  • Smooth resize, maximized and fullscreen window modes
  • Scrollbar initially hidden, may be revealed by mouseover or checkbox in settings
  • Optional settings (e.g. pallette) for selected applications
  • ANSI X3.64 and Xterm 256 color
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up vote 3 down vote

You may try PowerShell. And if you know .NET you can write some really advanced scripts.

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