Can Windows also have a good command line? PowerShell+Terminal tweaking notes (Version 1.0)

PS: This article was written in 2021. Now it's 2024, and there have been many new developments. I will continue to update this in upcoming articles.

Preface

Windows has always been known for its easy-to-use graphical interface, which is why its command-line support has long been criticized, falling far behind Linux or macOS. This situation has improved in recent Windows 10 updates, especially after Microsoft officially released Windows Terminal, a powerful tool~

So, regarding the question in the title, one can only say, "it's passable." This article introduces several ways to tinker with the command line.

Screenshot

Borrowing an official screenshot, hope nobody notices

It is recommended to first thoroughly read the official documentation (官方文档): https://docs.microsoft.com/zh-cn/windows/terminal/

Scoop: A Package Manager for Windows

Don't be envious of the convenient apt and yum on Linux. Windows also has some excellent package managers, such as Chocolatey, the official WinGet, and the one introduced here, Scoop. Compared to Chocolatey, Scoop's package repositories are community-maintained and open-source, offering better security and being much more extensive than the official WinGet. If that's not enough, you can even add your own software sources, similar to apt's PPA repositories.

Official Website: https://scoop.sh/

Installation:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -scope CurrentUser
iwr -useb get.scoop.sh | iex

oh-my-posh & powerline

If you're familiar with oh-my-zsh, you'll recognize this oh-my-xxx project~ It's a must-have on Windows~

First, download and install the powerline font. These fonts can be installed from the Cascadia Code GitHub releases page.

Enter commands to install the PowerShell plugin. posh-git requires Git support. If you don't already have it, install Git for Windows.

Install-Module posh-git -Scope CurrentUser
Install-Module oh-my-posh -Scope CurrentUser

Open your PowerShell profile with notepad $PROFILE and enter the following content:

Import-Module posh-git
Import-Module oh-my-posh
Set-Theme Paradox

Open the terminal configuration and modify the font, for example:

{
    // Make changes here to the powershell.exe profile.
    "guid": "{61c54bbd-c2c6-5271-96e7-009a87ff44bf}",
    "name": "Windows PowerShell",
    "commandline": "powershell.exe",
    "fontFace": "Cascadia Code PL",
    "hidden": false
},

The effect after configuration:

Reference materials: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/terminal/tutorials/powerline-setup

Using sudo (gsudo)

When using PowerShell on Windows, some operations require administrator privileges. Unlike Linux, where you can simply use the sudo command to elevate privileges, Windows often requires right-clicking the Start menu and selecting the PowerShell admin mode.

Not only is this inconvenient, but it might also lead impatient users to smash their keyboards.

However, where there's a will, there's a way. That's where the open-source gsudo comes in handy, allowing easy privilege escalation on Windows. Here's how to install it:

Installation:

PowerShell -Command "Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -scope Process; iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gerardog/gsudo/master/installgsudo.ps1 | iex"

Once installed, you can directly use the sudo command in PowerShell to elevate privileges. You can also add an administrator-privilege tab in Terminal. Let's see how to configure it.

Add the following entry to your Terminal configuration file:

"list": [
  {
      "guid": "{41dd7a51-f0e1-4420-a2ec-1a7130b7e950}",
      "name": "Windows PowerShell Elevated",
      "commandline": "gsudo.exe powershell.exe",
      "hidden": false,
      "colorScheme": "Solarized Dark",
      "fontFace": "Fira Code",
      "icon" : "https://i.imgur.com/Giuj3FT.png"
  },
  //...
]

Reference: https://blog.csdn.net/weixin_39858881/article/details/107026065