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Quite frequently I'll have small batch or powershell scripts to perform tedious work, and prefer to be able to operate out of the CLI as apposed to a GUI. The minor details are irrelevant, but essentially I am looking for a third-party emulator to replace command prompt and powershell (not that there is anything wrong with them).

What this application should be able to do:

  1. Store alias commands such as cp -ra being robocopy /E (Purely an example)
  2. Run scripts within the same window (similar to running a .ps1 in Powershell)
  3. Have shortcut commands such as crtl + v pasting from your clipboard
  4. I would love the ability to open documents and edit them in the command window (similar to nano or vim in linux - and no, I do not want Vim as another application)

This program can be open source/propriety and can be either free or paid. Keep in mind I have had a look at the following solutions:

  • ConEmu works very well with multiple tabs and the ability to have new tabs, with different "palettes". I love the fact I can force it to be the default emulator for Windows but I am unsure if I can store alias, or have an inbuilt text editor (the ability to edit existing documents inside the same CLI that I use for commands is really the biggest thing I want...)
  • Cygwin - There are no valid reasons I do not like Cygwin...I just do not like it.

Note:

The command edit.exe, copy con and edlin are not valid options. They do not operate on a 64 Version OS.

Furthermore, I do not want to use VIM as an option as (a) I dislike the complexity (yes, even over the functionality) and (b) it's just another program, I want to call within an emulator, edit and then break out.

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    For alias, trydoskey alias=echo Hello May 2, 2016 at 13:46
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    You might have a look at Take or the free variant TCC/LE, the former 4DOS. I didn't use it, so I can't recommend it. If you like it, answer your own question with it. May 2, 2016 at 13:51
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    @Thomas, the doskey function helps alot, so thank you. Should TCC/LE be valid I shall let you know.
    – DankyNanky
    May 3, 2016 at 12:13
  • @Thomas Please answer this question.
    – DankyNanky
    May 6, 2016 at 11:49
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    And I don't exactly know what you mean by requirement 2 "Run scripts within the same window". Don't all batch files run in CMD in the same window? May 6, 2016 at 12:51

1 Answer 1

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For the aliases, Windows has the built-in command doskey. It cannot handle spaces in the alias name, so cp -ra cannot be specified as an alias on its own. However, doskey hi=echo Hello works.

The developers of 4DOS (Wikipedia) have a successor for Windows, available as the commercial product Take (~80 USD) or in its free edition TCC/LE.

It

  • supports aliases (alias), but does not support doskey mentioned before
  • supports Ctrl+V

Disadvantages:

  • It takes a while to get used to the command prompt. To get the "original" CMD-like command line prompt, you have to prompt $P$G but I did not figure out how to make it persistent.

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