Command Prompt FAQ

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1. What is the command prompt?

Command prompt is a program included with all versions of Windows which allows 
you to execute scripts (small programs) using a purely text-based interface. 
Contrast this with the graphical user interface (buttons, mounter interactions) 
found in most programs you've previously used.

The command prompt reacts only to text based commands, and to some degree to 
mouse clicks. If you want something to work, you need to type it in and hit 
enter.

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2. How do I access the command prompt?

You can access the command prompt (another term for command line) by navigating 
the Windows Start menu. It's usually under System or System Tools. You could 
also use the Run or Search menus to look for cmd.exe, which is the name of the 
actual command prompt program.

Access the Run menu with the Windows Key and the r key, then type cmd.exe and 
hit enter to bring up the command prompt.

If you want a version of the command prompt with a few more features, then you 
can use Powershell instead. It's found in it's own menu in the Windows 10 Start 
Menu.

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3. How do I use the command prompt once I have it open?

As I said above, you type things into it (commands) and hit enter to execute 
those things.

Two useful commands that you should know are cd (change directory), and dir 
(view directory contents). If you're not familiar with the term, directory 
means essentially the same thing as folder in the context of Windows.

Type cd followed by the name of the folder you want to navigate to, then hit 
enter. For example:

cd Users

If you want to view the contents of a folder, type dir followed by the 
name of the folder you want to inspect and then hit enter. For example:

dir Users

If you don't want to type the full name, or are unsure of what constitutes a 
legal folder name, then type the command, and then hit tab to cycle through all 
legal inputs for that command in the current working folder.

Tab will autofill stuff like the folder names, required prefixes, and the 
backslash that indicates the end of a folder.

You can navigate through more than one folder at a time, by separating each 
folder in the path you want to navigate through with a backslash. For example:

cd Users\MysticLord

dir Users\MysticLord

Usually, cd and dir operate assuming that you're navigating from the folder you 
are currently in, which is found just before the part of the command prompt in 
which your typing appears. This is the full path to the current folder, 
starting from the name of the hard drive where you started. For example:

C:\Users\MysticLord\Mods

This is called the absolute path. At any time and in any location, you can 
navigate to an absolute path by typing it in full, starting with the name of 
the hard drive where it is found and going sequentially from there through each 
folder.

cd D:\Backups\Mods\SagaFrontier\

dir E:\

The command prompt always starts in the named drive where Windows operating 
system is installed, in this case:

C:\

If you want to navigate up a folder, enter .. after the command. For example:

cd ..

You can navigate up multiple folders by separating each .. with a backslash. 
For example:

cd ../..

You can navigate both up and down multiple folders by combining .. and folder 
names. For example:

cd ../../OgreBattleSNES/editors/encounters

You can send the text output of a command (what it prints in the command 
prompt) to a text file with the redirection operator, which is the > character. 
For example:

dir C:\Users\MysticLord\Mods\OgreBattleSNES > ob_files_listing.txt

You can switch between any commands you've previously entered with the up and 
down arrows.

It is impossible to break anything with cd and dir, feel free to explore.

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4. Why do I need to learn the command prompt?

You need to learn the basics of the command prompt so you can use my 
spreadsheet editors to edit data in video games. It sucks, but it's better than 
doing all those edits manually with a hex editor.

My spreadsheet editors use Python scripts to apply the changes you've made. 
Python is a programming language. To use it you need to install it.

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5. How do I install Python?

You need to install a version of Python 3 if it's not already installed.

Before you do, check if it's installed by opening a command prompt and typing:

python --version

Simple search for the text "Python 3 installation" minus the double quotes, and 
the first link should be the python.org installation guide. Follow the install 
guide for your operating system. If you're unsure of what operating system you 
use: if it's not an Apple or Mac device, it's probably Windows.

If you have multiple version of python installed, you may need to specifiy 
Python version 3 in later commands. Do so by substituting "python3" for the 
text "python" if you need to, though in some cases the default will be Python 
version 3 so it may not matter.

If you can't get Python to work, read this and try to correct the Path variable.

https://www.educative.io/edpresso/how-to-add-python-to-path-variable-in-windows

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