Visual Studio Code Terminal Usage and Setup Instructions

Visual Studio Code Terminal

In real-world project development, IDEs often use the command line (also known as a shell program) to compile and run code, or to perform other related tasks. Terminal enables developers to use the command line directly in Visual Studio Code, such as PowerShell and Command Prompt in Windows, and bash in UNIX/Linux.

By default, the Terminal Panel will be displayed in the bottom area of Visual Studio Code, and the upper right corner of this panel will provide terminal-related functions and information. If Terminal launches more than one command-line application, the right area of the Terminal Panel will list them one by one and the interface will change a bit.

Context Menus for Visual Studio Code Terminal

Command-line applications (shell programs) launched by Terminal Panel usually have have corresponding icons and names, and clicking on them with the mouse will bring up context menus for the corresponding command-line applications. If Terminal Panel contains only one command-line application, the left and right mouse buttons can bring up different context menus.

Open Visual Studio Code Terminal

To open Terminal in Visual Studio Code, you can either select the menu item View | Terminal, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+` (⌃+` on macOS), or type and execute the command View: Toggle Terminal in Command Panel. If Terminal is already open, then using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+` or executing the command View: Toggle Terminal will hide Terminal.

{
	// The following three setting items are used to set an external command-line application that is being launched and are not available in the workspace settings
	"terminal.external.windowsExec": "C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\cmd.exe",
	"terminal.external.linuxExec": "xterm",
	"terminal.external.osxExec": "Terminal.app",
}

{
	// Enable context menu items Open in Integrated Terminal and Open in External Terminal at the same time
	"terminal.explorerKind": "both",
}

{
	// Enable context menu items Open in Integrated Terminal and Open in External Terminal at the same time
	"terminal.sourceControlRepositoriesKind": "both",
}

New Visual Studio Code Terminal

As mentioned previously, Terminal can run multiple command-line applications (shell programs) at the same time, which are listed in the right area of the Terminal Panel. Select the menu item Terminal | New Terminal, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+` (⌃+⇧+` on macOS), or type and execute the command Terminal: Create New Terminal in Command Panel, or select the context menu item Open in Integrated Terminal for a folder in Explorer, or click the plus button in the upper right corner of the Terminal Panel to launch a new command-line application in Terminal. This usually works when you need to use a different command-line application to perform different tasks.

If the Visual Studio Code workspace contains more than one root directory, you need to choose the root directory in which you want to create a new terminal.

{
	// The new command-line application will be displayed in the editor area
	"terminal.integrated.defaultLocation": "editor",
}

Current Working Directory of Visual Studio Code Terminal

By default, command-line applications (shell programs) launched by Terminal use the root directory of the workspace as their current working directory, and you can specify the current working directory of the command-line application via the setting item terminal.integrated.cwd.

The current working directory of a new command-line application resulting from splitting Terminal may be determined by the original command-line application, as described in section Split and Unsplit Terminal.

{
	// Use the src folder in the workspace as the current working directory for the command line
	"terminal.integrated.cwd": "src",
}

Word Wrap in Visual Studio Code Terminal

Although some command-line applications (shell programs) have word wrap features of their own, some text may still not display in the Terminal Panel. You can set whether to enable or disable Terminal’s word wrap feature by selecting the command-line application’s context menu item Toggle Size to Content Width, or by using the keyboard shortcut Alt+Z, or by typing and executing the command Terminal: Toggle Size to Content Width in Command Panel, enabling this feature will cause everything in the command line to be displayed in the visible area.

Buffers for Visual Studio Code Terminal

The commands and outputs displayed in a command-line application (shell program) are stored in a Terminal buffer, the size of which can be modified by the setting item terminal.integrated.scrollback, with a default value of 1000, i.e., up to 1000 lines of information can be retained. It should be noted that the maximum number of lines that can be retained in the Terminal’s buffer may differ from the setting item terminal.integrated.scrollback.

{
	// The command line can hold up to 200 lines of information
	"terminal.integrated.scrollback": 200,
}

Navigate around the Visual Studio Code Terminal's Buffer

If the command-line application (shell program) launched by Terminal supports navigating between commands, you can use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+UpArrow, Ctrl+DownArrow to navigate to the previous or the next executed command (requires that the command-line application is active).

Of course, the same effect can be achieved by typing and executing the commands Terminal: Scroll To Previous Command and Terminal: Scroll To Next Command in Command Panel or by clicking the ellipsis button in the upper right corner of Terminal Panel and selecting the menu items Scroll To Previous Command and Scroll To Next Command.

In addition, you can use the following keyboard shortcuts or the related CommandPanel commands to navigate around the Terminal buffer (requires the command-line application to be active). Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+PageUp or the command Terminal: Scroll Up (Line) to scroll up one line. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+PageDown or the command Terminal: Scroll Down (Line) to scroll down one line. Use the keyboard shortcut Shift+PageUp or the command Terminal: Scroll Up (Page) to scroll up one page. Use the keyboard shortcut Shift+PageDown or the command Terminal: Scroll Down (Page) to scroll down one page. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Home or the command Terminal: Scroll to Top to scroll to the top. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+End or the command Terminal: Scroll to Bottom to scroll to the bottom.

{
	// Scrolling will be animated
	"terminal.integrated.smoothScrolling": true,
}

{
	// Increase buffer scrolling speed by a factor of 7
	"terminal.integrated.fastScrollSensitivity": 7,
}

Copy and Paste Operations in Visual Studio Code Terminal

The copy and paste operations in Terminal are the same as in the operating system on which it is based, and can be done using the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V in Windows, Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Shift+V in Linux, and C⌘+C and ⌘+C in macOS.

In addition to the keyboard shortcuts mentioned above, Terminal provides the following Command Panel commands to accomplish some copy and paste operations.

The command Terminal: Copy Last Command and Output can be used to copy the last command executed on the command line and its output. The command Terminal: Copy Last Command can be used to copy the last command executed on the command line. The command Terminal: Copy Last Command Output can be used to copy the output of the last executed command on the command line.

The command Terminal: Paste into Active Terminal can be used to paste content into the currently active command-line application.

Also, some mouse operations can also be used to copy and paste text, as described in section Mouse Operations.

{
	// The selected content is automatically copied
	"terminal.integrated.copyOnSelection": true,
}

{
	// Disable paste warnings
	"terminal.integrated.enableMultiLinePasteWarning": "never",
}

Find Operations in Visual Studio Code Terminal

When the command-line application (shell program) launched by Terminal is active, using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F, or typing and executing the command Terminal: Focus Find in Command Panel will open the Find Widget.

In addition to performing find-related operations via the Find Widget, Terminal provides a number of keyboard shortcuts (which generally require the command line to be active) and CommandPanel commands to achieve the same effect.

The keyboard shortcut Alt+R and the command Terminal: Toggle Find Using Regex can be used to set whether or not to use regular expressions for finding. The keyboard shortcut Alt+W and the command Terminal: Toggle Find Using Whole Word can be used to set whether to use whole word matching. The keyboard shortcut Alt+C and the command Terminal: Toggle Find Using Case Sensitive can be used to set whether to use case sensitive or not.

The keyboard shortcut Shift+Enter (requires the Find Widget to be active) and the command Terminal: Find Next can be used to find the next matching text. The keyboard shortcut Enter (requires the Find Widget to be active) and the command Terminal: Find Previous can be used to find the previous matching text.

The keyboard shortcut Escape and the command Terminal: Hide Find can be used to hide the Find Widget.

Selection Operations in Visual Studio Code Terminal

For command-line applications (shell programs) launched by Terminal, macOS provides the keyboard shortcut ⌘+A to select everything in the command line, whereas Linux/Windows does not provide a keyboard shortcut for a select-all operation, so you may not be able to use Ctrl+A to select all in the command line. The alternative is to execute the command Terminal: Select All in the Command Panel, which will select the entire contents of the command line.

In addition, Terminal provides the following keyboard shortcuts (which generally require the command line to be active) and the CommandPanel commands to accomplish some selection operations.

The command Terminal: Select To Next Line can be used to select the next line of the command line, executing the command again will select more. The command Terminal: Select To Previous Line can be used to select the previous line of the command line, executing this command again will select more.

The keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+DownArrow and the command Terminal: Select To Next Command can be used to select the next command on the command line and its output, executing the command again will select more. The keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+UpArrow and the command Terminal: Select To Previous Command can be used to select the previous command on the command line and its output, executing the command again will select more.

The keyboard shortcut Escape and the command Terminal: Clear Selection can be used to deselect.

Mouse Operations in Visual Studio Code Terminal

In different operating systems, Visual Studio Code Terminal handles the right-click of the mouse in different ways. In Windows, a right-click will copy the selected content in the command line or paste the copied content, in Linux, a right-click will bring up the context menu, and in macOS, a right-click will select the text at the mouse and bring up the context menu.

{
	// When you click the right mouse button, the text at the mouse will be selected and the context menu will be displayed
	"terminal.integrated.rightClickBehavior": "selectWord",
}

{
	// Paste when clicking the middle mouse button
	"terminal.integrated.middleClickBehavior": "paste",
}

{
	// Holding down the Alt key and clicking the left mouse button no longer moves the cursor
	"terminal.integrated.altClickMovesCursor": false,
}

{
	// Hold down the Ctrl key and scroll the mouse wheel to zoom in and out of the font
	"terminal.integrated.mouseWheelZoom": true,
}

{
	// Mouse scrolling speed is 2x the default
	"terminal.integrated.mouseWheelScrollSensitivity": 2,
}

Input Operations in Visual Studio Code Terminal

If you want to quickly enter the paths to files or folders in the command-line application (shell program) launched by Terminal, then you can drag and drop those files or folders to the command line and the paths will be escaped as necessary and then entered into the command line.

Enter and execute the command Terminal:Run Selected Text In Active Terminal in Command Panel and Visual Studio Code will run the text that has been selected in the current editor as a command in Terminal, if no text is selected, the entire line where the editor cursor is located will be used as the command.

Enter and execute the command Terminal: Run Active File In Active Terminal in Command Panel and Visual Studio Code will run the current file as a command in Terminal.

Using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+R (requires the command-line application to be active) or typing and executing the command Terminal: Run Recent Command… in Command Panel, you can select and execute a recently executed command.

{
	// After the command is executed, the command line gets focus
	"terminal.integrated.focusAfterRun": "terminal",
}

Links in Visual Studio Code Terminal

The command-line application (shell program) launched by Terminal may contain links that can be clicked by the mouse while holding down Ctrl (⌘ on macOS) and displayed with an underline when the mouse is hovering. Different types of links have different priorities and are handled differently, so we list them below in order of priority, from highest to lowest.

URI/URL links

For URI/URL links in the command line, holding down Ctrl and clicking on them will launch the handler for the associated protocol. For example, clicking on https://www.google.com might launch a browser.

File links

For file links in the command line, hold down Ctrl and click on them, and Visual Studio Code will try to open the related file, e.g. clicking on readme.md might open the file readme.md in the current working directory. If Visual Studio Code finds that a file link points to more than one file, it will list them and let the developer choose which one to open.

File links are supported to be located using something like file:l:c, where l denotes the line being located and c denotes the column being located, e.g. clicking on readme.md:3:2 might open the file readme.md and locate to the 2nd column of the 3th line of that file.

Folder links

Folder links in the command line are similar to file links, except that by holding down Ctrl and clicking on them, Visual Studio Code will either try to select the folder pointed to by that folder link in its Explorer, or it will try to start another new window and open the folder pointed to by that folder link. For example, clicking on the folder link C:\vscode in Windows launches a new Visual Studio Code window and opens the folder C:\vscode, if the folder does not already exist in the current Explorer.

Word links

If the text in the command line is not one of the above links, then the text may be treated as word links, and holding down Ctrl and clicking on them will cause Visual Studio Code to either try to open the related file (if the word link is a file path) or search for the related word in the workspace. If there is only one search result then Visual Studio Code will try to open that result, if there are multiple search results then Visual Studio Code will let the developer choose. Unlike other types of links, word links do not display an underline when the mouse is hovering unless Ctrl is held down.

Word links can be located like file links using a form similar to file:l:c, where l denotes the line being located and c denotes the column being located, such as settings.json:3:2.

Entering and executing the command Terminal: Open Detected Link… in Command Panel or using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+G (there may be a conflict) opens links in the command line, which is equivalent to holding down Ctrl and clicking on them. If there is more than one link in the command line, Visual Studio Code will let the developer choose which one to open.

Entering and executing the command Terminal: Open Last URL link in Command Panel will cause Visual Studio Code to try to open the last URI/URL link in the current command line, and will have no effect if no URI/URL link exists.

Entering and executing the command Terminal: Open Last Local File Link in Command Panel will cause Visual Studio Code to try to open the last local file link in the current command line, and will have no effect if no local file link exists.

{
	// Disable file links in remote environments
	"terminal.integrated.enableFileLinks": "notRemote",
}

{
	// Set the word separator
	"terminal.integrated.wordSeparators": " (),",
}

Change the Name, Icon, Color of Visual Studio Code Terminal

When you launch several command-line applications (shell programs) in the Terminal Panel, these command-line applications may have the same name and icon, and it can be difficult to distinguish between them. In this case, you can change the name, the icon and the color of the icon of the command-line application, by selecting the context menu items Rename…, Change Icon…, Change Color….

Of course, in Command Panel, typing and executing the commands Terminal: Change Icon… , Terminal: Change Color… will achieve the same effect.

Move Visual Studio Code Terminal

Command-line applications (shell programs) in the Terminal Panel have corresponding icons and names, and you can drag and drop the icon or name with the mouse to move the command-line application between the Terminal Panel and the editor area, or make the command-line application become a new window (drag and drop outside the Visual Studio Code window), or change the order between command-line applications (in the case of split command lines, all related command lines will be moved as a whole).

In addition, the same goal can be achieved by selecting the context menu items Move Terminal into Editor Area, Move Terminal into New Window, Move Terminal into Panel of the command-line application, or by typing and executing the commands Terminal: Move Terminal into Editor Area, Terminal: Move Terminal into New Window.

Split and Unsplit Visual Studio Code Terminal

If you want to make it easier to compare the outputs from the command line, then you can split Terminal, which is equivalent to launching a new command-line application (shell program), with the new command line displayed to the right of the original command line and forming a command-line group with it.

To split Terminal, you can click the split button next to the icon and name corresponding to a command line (if the Terminal Panel contains more than one command line, then you need to hover over the icon or name of the command line), or hold down the Alt key and click the Split button that appears, or select the context menu item Split Terminal corresponding to a particular command line, or click the arrow button next to the plus button in the upper right corner of Terminal Panel and select the menu item Split Terminal, or drag and drop the icon and name corresponding to the command line in the Terminal Panel, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+5 in the active command-line application, or type and execute the command Terminal: Split Terminal in the Command Panel.

To unsplit Terminal, you can either select the context menu item Unsplit Terminal that corresponds to the command line, or type and execute the command Terminal: Unsplit Terminal in the Command Panel.

{
	// The current working directory of the new command-line application is the root directory of the workspace
	"terminal.integrated.splitCwd": "workspaceRoot",
}

Kill the Visual Studio Code Terminal

If Terminal launches too many command-line applications (shell programs), the command-line applications can be terminated by clicking on their corresponding trash button, or their corresponding context menu item Kill Terminal. The trash button is usually located in the upper right corner of the Terminal Panel. If the Terminal Panel contains more than one command line, the trash button will be located in the right area of the Terminal Panel, and will appear when the mouse is hovered over, at which point a selected and active command-line application can also be terminated by pressing the Delete key.

In addition, typing and executing the command Terminal: Kill the Active Terminal Instance in the Command Panel will terminate the currently active command-line application in the Terminal Panel (which has no effect on command-line applications in the editor area), typing and executing the command Terminal: Kill the Active Terminal in Editor Area will terminate the currently active command-line application in the editor area, typing and executing the command Terminal: Kill All Terminals will terminate all command-line applications in Visual Studio Code.

Source Code

settings.json·codebeatme/vscode·GitHub