How in the Tech

Drag and drop to easily copy file paths to Windows command prompt

By Adam Myers ⋅ March 24, 2010 ⋅ Tags: Command Prompt, Windows 7

I’m not sure I’ll ever completely leave my command line roots; most definitely not on the Unix side but even within Windows, it’s conveinent. Some tasks and procedures are just handled more efficiently from the command line – assuming you’ve grown up with it and are accustomed to it’s behavior. While the Windows command line isn’t nearly in the same class as Unix’s super shell, it’s functional and straightforward.

Anyone that’s spent more than a minute with the command prompt quickly understands what a pain it is to move deep into a directory structure – it’s just a lot of typing! In a weird sort of way, Windows has become bloated here – and not in the typical fashion. When command line usage was rather prevalent, the directory structure in Windows was rather flat; directories were only nested a few levels deep. As the entire computing world moved to the point and click interface, the user-centric necessity of keeping the directory levels to a minimum subsided.

Today I’m providing a brief and very niche tip catered towards the command prompt junkies. More than you would imagine, I’m working within Windows Explorer trying to accomplish a task that shouldn’t be as cumbersome as it is – consider it’s a breeze from the command prompt. Once I’ve committed to switching over the command prompt, to get back to my working directory in Explorer is a silly ordeal. Instead, to jump to the directory in the command prompt from Explorer, just drag and drop the path from the address bar into Command Prompt. The process works with files too! Simple no?

In a strange sequence of events, this feature was introduced in XP but subsequently broken in Vista, only to be restored in Windows 7. So if you are still trying to validate your rationale of replacing Vista with 7, here’s another check box to fill in!