[Command Prompt] : User is not able to Select commands using 'Shift+ right/Left arrow keys' inside Command Prompt.

[Saiteja341]

Windows Terminal version

1.12.3472.0

Windows build number

22509.1011

Other Software

**Test Environment: **
OS: Windows 11 Version Dev (OS Build 22509.1011)
App: Windows Terminal Preview
Screen Reader: Narrator

Steps to reproduce

Repro Steps:

1.Open Windows Terminal.
2.Open 'Command prompt' using 'Ctrl + Shift + 2' keys.
3.Now type any text in text-area of 'Command prompt'.
4.Now try to select the command text using 'Shift + right/left arrow'.
5.Observe the issue.

Users Experience
Users who rely on keyboard will get impacted here & fail to use the 'Command prompt' effectively, if User is not able to Select commands using 'Shift+ right/Left arrow keys' inside Command Prompt.

Attachment :

User is not able to Select commands using 'Shift+ right or Left arrow keys' inside Command Prompt..zip

Expected Behavior

User should be able to Select commands using 'Shift+ right/Left arrow keys' inside Command Prompt, which is happening in 'Windows Power shell' tab.

Actual Behavior

User is not able to Select commands using 'Shift+ right/Left arrow keys' inside Command Prompt.

[zadjii-msft]

Our plan of record at the moment is to use mark mode (see #5804) to enable this functionality. This won't have exact parity with the vintage console's shift+arrows for selecting text in cmd.exe, but it should be close enough, with the possibility of being more powerful.

[zadjii-msft]

This is fixed in Terminal Preview, >=v1.15. The user needs to enter "Mark Mode" (by pressing ctrl+shift+m), and then they can select text with shift+arrows.

We're gonna re-purpose this thread to track "implicit mark mode", for instant shift+left selection.

From #13369 (comment):

Ok. Chatted about it at sync today. Here were some notes:

• This is pretty similar to [Command Prompt] : User is not able to Select commands using 'Shift+ right/Left arrow keys' inside Command Prompt. #11985 in that a terminal-side selection is created implicitly. There, Shift+Left can immediately enter mark mode and create a selection to the left.

• Here, we're talking about Shift+End entering mark mode and creating a selection to the "end". The tricky part is that "end" is first defined as the end of the input buffer, then defined as the end of the line.

• We could be smarted about cooked read and the input buffer to be able to allow functionality for that first part ("end" --> end of the input buffer). In fact, we should do that, but that's feature work we're gonna have to throw onto the backlog.

• There's also a concern about creating confusion between shell-side selections and terminal-side selections. PowerShell, for example, lets you do a shell-side selection, which provides a rich experience where you can also cut text. ConEmu intelligently knows when to do that while also only doing terminal-side selections. If we don't have that intelligent functionality, it's easy for the user to be confused as to why some selections allow you to "cut" the text while others don't.

• Proposed solution:

  • the "quick-n-easy" fix here would be that we introduce a global setting or some button in the settings UI like "experimental.implicitMarkModeActions" that would generate a number of actions that allow you to implicitly create a terminal-side selection with keybindings like Shift+Left or Shift+End.
  • These actions would probably be a bit ugly, but they would be a sequence of actions like "enter mark mode" --> "expand selection to the left (or end of line)"
  • This would create a terminal-side selection that allows you to select and copy text as allowed in mark mode, but not provide a rich experience like cutting text (which I personally think is fine, I'd bet 99% of the time you just want to copy).

For more discussion, refer to → #13369

[ofek]

Just fyi specifically for shift+left, you'd have to go one character back before highlighting

[lesleyrs]

Why does nobody mention WSL? I'd like to be able to do this there too. Is there a reason for why it won't allow highlighting with keys?

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

@lesleyrs, I expect that the feature that starts "implicit mark mode" when the user presses Shift+Left will be implemented in the terminal only, without changing anything in the console host. If it is implemented that way and enabled by the user, then it will work with WSL as well.

Mark mode via Ctrl+Shift+M already works with WSL.

[zadjii-msft]

Also, adding the following to your settings will work:

  {
      "command":
      {
          "action": "markMode"
      },
      "keys": "shift+left"
  },

Sure, it requires an extra keypress, but it'll get the job done.

[youk]

@zadjii-msft It seems there is no way to define actions per profile? Defined as is it will mess with profiles like PowerShell where selection with keyboard already works.

[zadjii-msft]

It seems there is no way to define actions per profile

That's correct, that's tracked in #5790