Command Window

Article
11/15/2016

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

The Command window is used to execute commands or aliases directly in the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE). You can execute both menu commands and commands that do not appear on any menu. To display the Command window, choose Other Windows from the View menu, and select Command Window.

Displaying the Values of Variables

To check the value of a variable varA, use the Print Command:

>Debug.Print varA

The question mark (?) is an alias for Debug.Print, so this command can also be written:

>? varA

Both versions of this command will return the value of the variable varA.

Entering Commands

The greater than symbol (>) appears at the left edge of the Command window as a prompt for new lines. Use the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys to scroll through previously issued commands.

Task	Solution	Example
Evaluate an expression.	Preface the expression with a question mark (`?`).	`? myvar`
Switch to an Immediate window.	Enter `immed` into the window without the greater than sign (>)	`immed`
Switch back to the Command window from an Immediate window.	Enter `cmd` into the window.	`>cmd`

The following shortcuts help you navigate while in Command mode.

Action	Cursor location	Keybinding
Cycle through the list of previously entered commands.	Input line	UP ARROW & DOWN ARROW
Scroll up the window.	Command window contents	CTRL+UP ARROW
Scroll down the window.	Command window contents	DOWN ARROW or CTRL+DOWN ARROW

Tip

You can copy all or part of a previous command to the input line by scrolling to it, highlighting all or part of it, and then pressing ENTER.

Mark Mode

When you click on any previous line in the Command window, you shift automatically into Mark mode. This allows you to select, edit, and copy the text of previous commands as you would in any text editor, and paste them into the current line.

The Equals (=) Sign

The window used to enter the EvaluateStatement command determines whether an equals sign (=) is interpreted as a comparison operator or as an assignment operator.

In the Command window, an equals sign (=) is interpreted as a comparison operator. You cannot use assignment operators in the Command window. So, for example, if the values of variables varA and varB are different, then the command

>Debug.EvaluateStatement(varA=varB)

will return a value of False.

In the Immediate window, by contrast, an equals sign (=) is interpreted as an assignment operator. So, for example, the command

>Debug.EvaluateStatement(varA=varB)

will assign to variable varA the value of variable varB.

Parameters, Switches, and Values

Some Visual Studio commands have required and optional arguments, switches and values. Certain rules apply when dealing with such commands. The following is an example of a rich command to clarify the terminology.

Edit.ReplaceInFiles /case /pattern:regex var[1-3]+ oldpar

In this example,

Edit.ReplaceInFiles is the command
/case and /pattern:regex are switches (prefaced with the slash [/] character)
regex is the value of the /pattern switch; the /case switch has no value
var[1-3]+ and oldpar are parameters

Note

Any command, parameter, switch, or value that contains spaces must have double quotation marks on either side.

The position of switches and parameters can be interchanged freely on the command line with the exception of the Shell command, which requires its switches and parameters in a specific order.

Nearly every switch supported by a command has two forms: a short (one character) form and a long form. Multiple short-form switches can be combined into a group. For example, /p /g /m can be expressed alternately as /pgm.

If short-form switches are combined into a group and given a value, that value applies to every switch. For example, /pgm:123 equates to /p:123 /g:123 /m:123. An error occurs if any of the switches in the group does not accept a value.

Escape Characters

A caret (^) character in a command line means that the character immediately following it is interpreted literally, rather than as a control character. This can be used to embed straight quotation marks ("), spaces, leading slashes, carets, or any other literal characters in a parameter or switch value, with the exception of switch names. For example,

>Edit.Find ^^t /regex

A caret functions the same whether it is inside or outside quotation marks. If a caret is the last character on the line, it is ignored. The example shown here demonstrates how to search for the pattern “^t”.

Use Quotes for Path Names with Spaces

If, for example, you want to open a file that has a path containing spaces, you must put double quotes around the path or path segment that contains spaces: C:\"Program Files" or "C:\Program Files".

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