August 26, 2002
Tab-completion in Windows 2000

I might be the last one in the world to discover this W2K tweak, but just in case others are interested; here's how to get "tab completion" (famous from the unix world and also (I hear) now default in Windows XP command prompts) in Windows 2000:

  1. Hit the "Start" button
  2. Select "Run"
  3. enter "regedit", hit OK
  4. Expand "My computer" (by clicking the little [+] beside it)
  5. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
  6. Expand SOFTWARE
  7. Expand Microsoft
  8. Expand Command Processor
  9. Double-click "CompletionChar"
  10. Replace the value that's there with 9 (which is the ASCII equivalent of the TAB key)
  11. Click OK

To enjoy, Hit the "Start"-button, then "Run" then type "cmd" and try typing cd Doc then hitting TAB... "Documents and Settings" should autocomplete...

Sponsored links
Related Entries
Comments

Hey, much better, do this for someone that is a possible frequent user of 'cmd', and change char(7) with something worse - like a letter or space or such... :)

Posted by: Lars Lorentz Ludvigsen on August 27, 2002 10:41 PM

If you don't have the Administrator privileges, open HKEY_CURRENT_USER instead of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and proceed from there.

Thanks.

Posted by: Dotan Dimet on March 19, 2003 12:13 PM

SHIFT-TAB can also be used to roll back.

Posted by: Fabrice on December 4, 2003 02:46 PM

THANK YOU!!! :) I've been going nuts trapped in a windows world w/o tab completion :)

Posted by: Cheers on December 3, 2004 09:01 PM

Great except the win cmd shell still sucks in so many ways this is a bit irrelevant.

Posted by: Nix man on April 6, 2005 05:17 PM

Oh, man, this has been driving me crazy! ThankyouThankyouThankyou!

Posted by: Brian Pratt on August 19, 2005 01:54 AM

Still tcsh is better...

Posted by: Seymore Arses on August 24, 2005 02:07 PM

Yet another thanks. Just had a whimsical thought this morning that it might be possible, Googled it and hey presto!

Posted by: Clive Flatau on December 16, 2005 10:58 AM

thanks!!!! was thinking maybe there'd be a powertoy or something.. but this is better!

Posted by: kevin on January 21, 2006 07:07 AM
Post a comment
Name:


Email:
(Will not be displayed if you enter a website below. Otherwise, it will be displayed "spam protected")


Website:
(if you have one)


What do you want to say?
(please don't bother posting "spam" (pornography, viagra-sales etc - I will delete such comments anyway))


Remember info?



Referrers to this page
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.jacobsen.no/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/anders/MT/mt-tb.cgi/239
Richy C's Blog: Autocompletion in Win2k (November 10, 2002 02:16 PM)
"How to do Tab-Autocomplete on Windows 2000"
Richy C's Blog: Autocompletion in Win2k (November 10, 2002 02:16 PM)
"How to do Tab-Autocomplete on Windows 2000"
Richy's Random Ramblings: Techy: Autocompletion in Win2k (March 4, 2004 08:18 PM)
"How to do Tab-Autocomplete on Windows 2000"
RoudyBob.NET: re: (October 8, 2004 08:28 AM)
""
ComputerZen.com - Scott Hanselman's Weblog: Prompt(s) along with PushD and PopD (January 21, 2005 01:26 AM)
""

[an error occurred while processing this directive]
© Anders Jacobsen
[extrospection.com photography]