Master Windows Command Line with Cmder: Install, Shortcuts & VSCode Integration

Introduction

Developers often need Unix‑like commands on Windows. Cmder is a portable console emulator that bundles a collection of GNU utilities (grep, curl, vim, tar, unzip, ssh, ls, bash, perl) and provides a Bash‑compatible environment.

Download

Official site: https://cmder.net. Two packages are available: mini (core console) and full (includes msysgit). If Git for Windows is already installed, the mini version is sufficient.

Installation

Download the zip archive, extract it to a desired folder, and launch Cmder.exe. For quick access you may pin the executable to the taskbar. On first run Cmder may prompt to download updates.

Keyboard shortcuts

Common shortcuts:

Ctrl + ` – Toggle global taskbar summon

Win + Alt + p – Open settings (or right‑click the top‑left icon)

Ctrl + t – Open a new tab

Ctrl + w – Close current tab

Shift + Alt + 1/2/… – Switch to a specific tab (1 = CMD, 2 = PowerShell, …)

Alt + Enter – Toggle full‑screen mode

Shell‑related shortcuts:

Ctrl + Alt + u – Navigate up one directory level

End / Home / Ctrl + ←/→ – Standard cursor movement

Ctrl + r – Search command history

Shift + mouse – Select and copy text

Right‑click or Ctrl + Shift + v – Paste

Additional features

Shell style switching

Cmder can switch between different shells (e.g., CMD, PowerShell, Bash) via the settings menu or the “Tasks” dropdown.

Interface zoom

Hold Ctrl and scroll the mouse wheel to zoom the terminal UI.

Copying text

Select text with the mouse and press Ctrl+C to copy.

Integration with Visual Studio Code

VS Code’s default terminal (cmd.exe) can be replaced with Cmder by adding a profile to settings.json. Example configuration (adjust the path to your Cmder installation):

"terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
    "Cmder": {
        "path": "${env:windir}\\System32\\cmd.exe",
        "args": ["/k", "F:\\setup\\cmder\\vendor\\bin\\vscode_init.cmd"]
    }
},
"terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "Cmder"

After restarting VS Code, open the terminal with Ctrl+Shift+`; Cmder will appear as the active shell.