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Windows Terminal Tips, Tricks, and Productivity Hacks
Windows Terminal Tips, Tricks, and Productivity Hacks

Windows Terminal Tips, Tricks, and Productivity Hacks: Optimize your command-line usage and development processes with pro-level techniques

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Windows Terminal Tips, Tricks, and Productivity Hacks

Chapter 1: Getting started with the new Windows Terminal

At the Build 2019 conference, Microsoft made an exciting announcement: Windows 10 was getting a brand new command-line terminal! Custom built for the command prompt, PowerShell, and the Windows Subsystem for Linux, this new terminal promised to bring a modern, configurable, and open source command-line experience. In May 2020, Microsoft released the 1.0 version of the new Windows Terminal.

Windows Terminal is a separate application from the old Windows command line. This approach allows both terminals to live side by side, and enables Microsoft to rapidly release new features for Windows Terminal without endangering the backward compatibility of the old terminal.

By the end of this chapter, we will be up and running with Windows Terminal, having covered the following topics:

  • Why a new terminal?
  • The modern foundations of Windows Terminal
  • Installing Windows Terminal
  • Launching Windows Terminal

We'll cover why Windows needed a new terminal at all, how this new terminal is radically different from the old one, and take our first steps to download, install, and launch it.

Technical requirements

To get started with Windows Terminal, you'll need a Windows 10 installation with access to the built-in Microsoft Store application. The minimum version of Windows 10 supported is the May 2019 Update (version 1903, as reported in the output of the winver command). If you have a relatively up-to-date Windows 10 installation, you have all the tools you need to get started.

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Key benefits

  • Customize and optimize your Windows Terminal and its shells
  • Work effectively on the command line with split panes, hotkeys, and automation
  • Use PowerShell and WSL2 efficiently to build, test, and deploy applications

Description

Windows Terminal is a new and open-source command-line application for Windows 10, built for the Command Prompt, PowerShell, Windows Subsystem for Linux, and more. It's fast, modern, and configurable thanks to its GPU-accelerated rendering, excellent UTF-8 support, and JSON-based configurability, and this book can help you learn how to leverage these features. You’ll start by learning the benefits of Windows Terminal and its open-source development, as well as how to use the built-in tabs, panes, and key bindings to build your own efficient terminal workflows. After you’ve mastered Windows Terminal, this book shows how to use and configure PowerShell Core and the Windows Subsystem for Linux within Windows Terminal. You’ll maximize your productivity using powerful tools such as PSReadLine for PowerShell and ZSH on Linux, and discover useful tips and tricks for common developer tools like Git and SSH. Finally, you’ll see how Windows Terminal can be used in common development and DevOps tasks, such as developing frontend JavaScript applications and backend REST APIs, and managing cloud-based systems like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. By the end of this book, you'll not only be well-versed with Windows Terminal, but also have learned how to effectively use shells like PowerShell Core and ZSH to become proficient at the command line.

Who is this book for?

This book is for developers, DevOps engineers, and sysadmins who want to become advanced command-line power users. Whether you're new to the command line or you already use Windows PowerShell every day, this book will have something for you.

What you will learn

  • Install, update, and use Windows Terminal and its preview version
  • Customize your Windows Terminal to be both visually appealing and functional
  • Enable and effectively use the latest versions of PowerShell Core and Windows Subsystem for Linux
  • Install and configure time-saving tools for the command line
  • Work efficiently with common developer tools such as Git and SSH
  • Build, deploy, and manage apps in the cloud using Windows Terminal
  • Use Linux tools from Windows with ease

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Apr 30, 2021
Length: 254 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781800209640
Vendor :
Microsoft
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Product Details

Publication date : Apr 30, 2021
Length: 254 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781800209640
Vendor :
Microsoft
Concepts :

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Table of Contents

18 Chapters
Section 1: Introducing the New Windows Terminal Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 1: Getting started with the new Windows Terminal Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 2: Learning the Windows Terminal UI Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 3: Configuring an Ubuntu Linux profile Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Section 2: Configuring your Windows Terminal and its shells Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 4: Customizing your Windows Terminal settings Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 5: Changing your Windows Terminal appearance Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 6: Setting up keyboard shortcuts Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 7: Hidden Windows Terminal Actions Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 8: Tips for using PowerShell like a Pro Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 9: Tips for Using Ubuntu like an Expert Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Section 3: Using your Windows Terminal for development Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 10: Using Git and GitHub with Windows Terminal Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 11: Building web applications with React Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 12: Building REST APIs with C# and Windows Terminal Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 13: Connecting to remote systems Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 14: Managing systems in the cloud Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.9
(8 Ratings)
5 star 87.5%
4 star 12.5%
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David Oct 02, 2023
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
For me, very useful.
Subscriber review Packt
Nuno "WSL Corsair" do Carmo Jul 05, 2021
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Writing a book about an emergent technology or tool it's always a risky as the moment the book is out, the information inside might be already obsolete.To avoid this situation, the author successfully applied a simple yet very intelligent solution: explain how the Terminal integrates with existing, and more long term, development workflows.So in the end, what the book brings, is more than just one technology. We learn about using the different shells available in Windows 10 (Powershell and WSL). We also learn on how to use the Terminal for web development, IT operations such as remote servers connection and even some Cloud providers management (AWS, Azure).I tend to rate the books for they "replay value", and this one has an high value thanks to all the aspects mention above.A great first book on the new Windows Terminal that will definitively help everyone, independent of the knowledge level, to get started or learn a nice trick or two for the veterans.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Alvin Ashcraft Jul 02, 2021
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Will Fuqua's Windows Terminal book is a great guide for a user of any proficiency. Readers who are new to Windows Terminal or terminals in general can start from Chapter 1 and get up to speed from ground zero. I was already familiar with many of the Windows Terminal basics, so I skimmed over some of the early chapters (most of section one).Sections 2 and 3 were more useful for me. I learned so much about customizing and using the Terminal for my day-to-day workflows as a software developer. You'll learn everything you need to know about the Terminal, from customizing its appearance to using it to develop and test web APIs.The chapter on using Windows Terminal with Git and GitHub was my favorite. If you're a lifelong GUI developer, this book will teach you the ins and outs of living at the command-line. Do you work with the cloud? There are chapters on using Windows Terminal to accomplish tasks in Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud Platform.If you're using Windows for anything more than web browsing, you'll find something useful you can do with Windows Terminal in this book Check it out!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Lirp Dec 29, 2021
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
A must have in your library as reference on the fly.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Thomas F. Lee Aug 08, 2021
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I have had the pleasure of reading through this recently published book (https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Windows-Terminal-Tricks-Productivity-Hacks-ebook/dp/B08XK8C5FD/ref=smi_www_rco2_go_smi_4368549507?_encoding=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0&ie=UTF8). This is a timely book, full of tips and tricks for using the new Windows Terminal.Ever since Microsoft got into the OS business, we’ve had a console or shell built into the OS. The earliest, command.com, gave way to cmd.exe with NT 3.1. And later came Windows PowerShell, the PowerShell ISE and of course PowerShell 7 with VS Code. And now we have Windows Terminal.As the book clarifies, there really are two components at work when you use tools like PowerShell. The first is the shell, with the second being the terminal. As the book makes clear, the terminal is, essentially, “what you see” when you use a command-line tool. The terminal renders any text, draws any UI, and accepts kb/mouse input. The terminal sends input to the shell for the actual processing. The shell then processes the input and returns the results back to the terminal to display.When you use cmd.exe or PowerShell, conhost.exe is the terminal with the command prompt or Windows Powershell/PowerShell 7 as the shell. The actual shell does not have a UI as such – it gets input from and sends output to the terminal. It is important to separate the two.Conhost.exe is really pretty primitive – it works and does the job but could do so much more. Which is a thought that has led to the development of a new, open-source, cross-platform terminal supporting just about any shell, including the shells in Linux distributions you can run under the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2). The new windows terminal is not just a re-write of conhost.exe, but is so much more!As a PowerShell user, I traditionally used PowerShell via either the command line (i.e. pwsh.exe, cmd.exe, powershell.exe) or most often via VS Code (and some ISE). The tool I chose at any given time reflected what I was about to do. I use a GUI to develop and test scripts. And sometimes to run code. On the other hand, when I only need to run code ( for example, my Get-TodayInHistory.ps1 script (https://github.com/doctordns/GDScripts/blob/main/Get-TodayInHistory.ps1) that helps me pick music to play today), I chose the console as my terminal.The book begins with a look at both what the terminal is and how you install it, followed by a great chapter on the UI. If you are going to be using the new terminal, Chapter 2 has several important key sequences you need to work into your muscle memory.In the second section, the book looks at how you can configure Windows Terminal and the shells you use. The book contains lots of great tips for using the terminal and PowerShell and WSL2 Ubuntu via Windows Terminal.For the hardcore developer, the final section in the book looks at how you can use Windows Terminal in development. The book looks at using GIT and GitHub and building web applications (with React) and REST APIs. The book finishes with a look at connecting to a remote host and managing hosts in the cloud by using Azure Cloud Shell or Google Cloud shell in the Windows Terminal.If you are a casual terminal user, Windows Terminal does everything you used to use consoles for – and a lot more. Windows Terminal is a great tool if you are a WSL2 user, perhaps creating APIs or web apps. For both audiences (and everyone in between), this book provides great guidance, tips/tricks, and best practices.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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