A User-friendly Interface for the Windows Command Prompt
PromptPal is a replacement GUI (graphical user interface) for the command prompt console, previously known as the DOS prompt. It turns the antiquated console into a friendly and helpful Windows program, whilst still routing all your instructions through Microsoft's dependable command processor. PromptPal is highly configurable, and provides full Windows-style editing, command completion, command history, syntax help and much more.
Full Screen Mode - Commands and output displayed in the same pane
Split Screen Mode - Commands and output displayed in separate panes
Split Screen Mode - syntax info and output windows can be floated
Syntax help & Command Autocomplete - Recognises commands as you type and displays syntax help
Drag 'n Drop - within PromptPal, and between PromptPal and other applications
Save to Text or Batch File - Save the contents of the current selection, command pane or output pane to either a text or batch file. Optionally strips out prompts and joins broken lines
Full Windows-style editing
- Standard text selection as opposed to the grid-based selection of the console window
- Cut, copy and paste using the conventional Windows shortcuts
- Drag-and-drop text within PromptPal and between PromptPal and other Windows programs
- Insert paths into the command line using standard Windows file and folder browsers, and by dragging files onto the PromptPal window
Command completion assistance to save time and finger wear
- Command Completion - PromptPal recognizes over 140 commands, suggesting likely matches as you type. When you see the command you're after, just take it from the popup list and save on typing. The same help is provided for command switches!
- Command History - PromptPal maintains a history of command lines - not just within one editing session like the console, but across all sessions AND all open PromptPal windows. If you type a command line into one PromptPal window, that command will be instantly available in all other PromptPal windows. A similar history also helps you to type in frequently used paths.
- Syntax Help - As soon as a command is recognized, PromptPal displays helpful information about its parameters, switches and effects in a resizeable toolbar.
- Add You Own Commands - If you have command line utilities that aren't recognized by PromptPal, that's no problem - it's easy to add them to PromptPal's collection.
Favorites
Add commonly used commands to your favorites list for quick and easy re-use.
Search Facility
PromptPal's Find facility lets you search for a specific piece of text within the current tab.
Single/dual pane display
PromptPal lets you choose between two display formats:
- Single - commands and results are displayed together in a single pane (like the existing command console)
- Dual - commands are typed into one pane while results are shown in a separate pane.
Save commands/results to file
You can save the commands and/or results from a session out to a text file. This lets you turn a series of commands into a batch (.bat) file for example. Furthermore, PromptPal can filter the text as follows to save on editing:
- Remove command prompts - PromptPal can strip all the "c:\xxxxx>" text that the command processor emits at the start of a new line
- Rejoin broken lines - PromptPal will attempt to rejoin blocks of text that have been broken over several lines by the command processor.
Optional tabbed interface [more]
Instead of opening new PromptPal windows, you have the option of simply opening new tabs in an existing window. This is much faster than opening a new window, and allows you to switch between different command sessions very quickly and easily.
Integration with Windows Explorer
PromptPal adds a "Open PromptPal Here" command to the popup menu for drives and folders. When selected, PromptPal opens up with the current directory already set.
PromptPal Taskbar Band
PromptPal comes with an optional band that lives on your Windows task bar, along with the Start button. The band acts like a hybrid of the Windows "Run..." box and the command prompt:
- Recognized command-line utilities are automatically launched in a new PromptPal window. The window stays open until you close it, so results of the command are not lost.
- Other commands are executed in a similar way to the Run... box. For example, you can launch Regedit, or type %temp% to open an Explorer window at the temporary directory for the active user.
- To show/hide the band, right-click on a free area of your taskbar, and choose "PromptPal Cmd Band" from the Toolbars submenu of the resulting popup. Unlock your taskbar to resize the band.
Highly Configurable [more]
The appearance and behaviour of PromptPal command prompt replacement can be customised.
Special Features for Windows 7 & Vista [more]
Windows Vista has a much improved security model compared to its predecessors, but that same security can be a source of irritation for an administrator who's just trying to get a job done quickly. To help you work faster, PromptPal now allows you to open tabs with full administrator privileges.
Free Command Line Utilities [more]
PromptPal ships with the following free command line utilities.
- Windows Version of
the Unix Tail Command
PromptPal now has its own version of the popular Tail command. This can be used to keep tabs on text log files, showing new entries as they are added to the end of the file. PromptPal's Tail can work with most common file formats and encoding schemes including PC, Unix, ANSI, Unicode and UTF-8.
