Windows 11: Command Prompt vs Terminal

[darkoshi]

I'm finally in the process of copying over all my data to my "new" laptop so I can switch over to using it as my main personal computer.

Now guess I what I discover?

Firstly, Windows 11 has an application that looks like the traditional Command Prompt, but apparently it isn't, it's a new thing called "Windows Terminal":
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-terminal-default-in-windows-11-by-2022

That's all well and good. It looks like it has some nice features.

However, as far as I can tell, this Terminal app doesn't let you change its screen buffer width to be larger than your screen. If the terminal displays data that is wider than can fit in your window, it is automatically line wrapped and there's no way to turn that line wrapping off. There's no way to have it show a horizontal scroll bar and let you scroll to the right to see long lines. They just wrap.

I've found various bugs written about this issue since 2019, but it seems to STILL not have been fixed/implemented:

Terminal desperately needs a horizontal scrollbar (similar to Command Prompt) #1860 (opened on Jul 7, 2019; still open)
Word wrapping #6378 (opened on Jun 5, 2020; closed as a duplicate of #1860)
Ability to switch text wrapping off #6730 (opened on Jun 30, 2020; closed as a duplicate of #1860)
Ability to disable line wrapping in Windows Terminal #6895 (opened on Jul 13, 2020; closed as a duplicate of #1860)

Rationally, it may not be that big a deal for me on this laptop. But I can't help but think how debilitating it would be on my work laptop if I ever have to upgrade it to Windows 11. All my scripts which query database rows; their output is unreadable when it is line wrapped. Sure, often I redirect the output to a file anyway, but not always.

Even a simple directory listing has the output wrapped, which is how i discovered this.

Aaahhhhhhhh finally, here is how to get back the legacy Command Prompt, which does let you set up horizontal scrolling:

How to get back legacy command prompt

Change Default Terminal Application in Windows 11

Comments

[mellowtigger]

I have no idea why Microsoft would switch people to a new terminal app instead of just send everyone to powershell?

[darkoshi]

The Terminal application gives you 3 "profile" options - Powershell, Windows Console Host, and Azure Cloud Shell. But when running them within the Terminal window like that, I don't think you can turn off line wrapping for any of them.

But like the Command Prompt, you can still start up a legacy Powershell window too, which lets you increase the screen buffer width to avoid line wrapping.

Other than that aspect, I'm not clear yet on the difference between running the legacy versions, versus running them from the Terminal app.

[redsixwing]

Oh yuck. :/ Thanks for the links!

[lhexan]

Linux is its own kind of hassle, but at least I don't have to put up with forced obsolescence and its byproducts, like what you describe.

[darkoshi]

::smile:: One of my thoughts I nearly included in this post was that if I keep having to spend time trying to figure out things like this on Windows 11, I may as well be figuring out how to do it in Linux so that I can ditch Windows.

[lhexan]

Linux Mint has been smooth so far, including plug-and-play for every device I use. Its installation USB boots on its own and allows you to play around with the operating system, and also has a dual-boot option that will preserve a Windows installation, though I haven't tried that. The main difficulty I remember was Windows making it rather hard to verify and write a USB boot drive!

There are various hassles, including the occasional but unavoidable need for command line work, but it's less hassle overall than I encounter from Windows on my office computer.

[darkoshi]

I believe Linux Mint was one I tried out many years back, booting from a CD, and had good results though I never did much with it. I'm glad it is still around in case I get around to playing with Linux again.