Access Previously Used Commands With the Arrow Keys

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Access Previously Used Commands With the Arrow Keys

Another great Command Prompt trick has to be the use of the keyboard arrow keys to cycle through previously executed commands.

The up and down arrow keys cycle through the commands you've entered and the right arrow automatically enters, character by character, the last command you executed.

This might not sound that interesting, but there are several situations where the arrow keys become huge time savers.

Consider this example: You've typed out 75 characters of a command and then try to execute it, only to find that you forgot to add an option at the very end. No problem, just hit the up arrow and the entire command is automatically entered in the Command Prompt window, ready for you to edit to make it work.

Granted, I work in the Command Prompt a lot, but I'd guess this little trick has saved me many hours of repeat typing over the years.