How to copy text from the cmd console and keep the formatting (with color)?
I want to cut and paste from cmd and keep the color information when pasting to another application. It's similar to pasting in most applications with formatting information.
Is there a way to do this? Or can it be done with an app similar to cmd?

windows command-line formatting
add a comment |
I want to cut and paste from cmd and keep the color information when pasting to another application. It's similar to pasting in most applications with formatting information.
Is there a way to do this? Or can it be done with an app similar to cmd?

windows command-line formatting
add a comment |
I want to cut and paste from cmd and keep the color information when pasting to another application. It's similar to pasting in most applications with formatting information.
Is there a way to do this? Or can it be done with an app similar to cmd?

windows command-line formatting
I want to cut and paste from cmd and keep the color information when pasting to another application. It's similar to pasting in most applications with formatting information.
Is there a way to do this? Or can it be done with an app similar to cmd?

windows command-line formatting
windows command-line formatting
edited Sep 26 '11 at 4:04
3498DB
15.8k114862
15.8k114862
asked Dec 2 '09 at 12:54
Keith BentrupKeith Bentrup
220210
220210
add a comment |
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
The PowerShell folks, on their blog, posted an article titled: Colorized capture of console screen in HTML and RTF
Once it's in a RTF file, with colors, open the RTF with Word or OpenOffice and copy the text to your target application.
As PowerShell is a nice replacement of cmd.exe with a lot more features, give it a try.
2
It's not so much a replacement as an alternative. Compatibility dictates that it can't replace cmd :-)
– Joey
Dec 2 '09 at 14:54
Yes, you're right, Johannes! "Danke schön" for the clarification :-) .
– Snark
Dec 2 '09 at 15:00
+Awesome! Thanks. It was a bit confusing at first since I had never used PowerShell, but it worked exactly as described.
– Keith Bentrup
Dec 3 '09 at 11:08
There is a Gist with the code: gist.github.com/LeoColomb/1a683e7a05da067259e9
– dualed
Oct 25 '18 at 11:41
add a comment |
Colours in cmd are not the same as normal colours, it's the interpreter interpreting colour codes. I do not believe it's possible to do, and checking in Console2, it can't do it either, so it's probably for a very good reason.
AFAIK, Windows Console doesn't support ANSI colour codes (as Unix terminal emulators do); the program must call special functions to set the text colour. Also, a program can read the complete contents of its screen buffer (that's how that PowerShell snippet works) -- and it would be possible to make Console2 remember everything too. There's no real reason preventing it.
– grawity
Dec 2 '09 at 13:53
Well, I'm often wrong ;) I assumed the two would work similarly, as cygwin's tools have working colour, but they must have implemented that themselves.
– Phoshi
Dec 2 '09 at 16:16
@grawity looks like ansi is supported natively in windows console in windows 10 msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/…
– Antony Hatchkins
Nov 14 '16 at 5:43
add a comment |
There is a long winded way of doing it, using screen capture?
- Hit Alt+PrtScr
- This will copy the window to the clipboard
- From Start, enter
mspaint
- Click on Edit/Paste or Ctrl-V to paste the contents of clipboard
- Edit it to only show the command box and save it to PNG (GIF will lead to Paint dithering the classic grey text, and JPEG would create artefacts around your text).
Then those screen capture shots, will be ready to be inserted into Word as an image for documenting purposes. Of course, it's not text, so it won't be selectable. But it may be better than nothing.
The only thing this workaround is missing would be running OCR against the output image :) Overkill? Possibly, but probably easier to deal with than the accepted answer.
– kayleeFrye_onDeck
Feb 14 at 21:05
add a comment |
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3 Answers
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active
oldest
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3 Answers
3
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The PowerShell folks, on their blog, posted an article titled: Colorized capture of console screen in HTML and RTF
Once it's in a RTF file, with colors, open the RTF with Word or OpenOffice and copy the text to your target application.
As PowerShell is a nice replacement of cmd.exe with a lot more features, give it a try.
2
It's not so much a replacement as an alternative. Compatibility dictates that it can't replace cmd :-)
– Joey
Dec 2 '09 at 14:54
Yes, you're right, Johannes! "Danke schön" for the clarification :-) .
– Snark
Dec 2 '09 at 15:00
+Awesome! Thanks. It was a bit confusing at first since I had never used PowerShell, but it worked exactly as described.
– Keith Bentrup
Dec 3 '09 at 11:08
There is a Gist with the code: gist.github.com/LeoColomb/1a683e7a05da067259e9
– dualed
Oct 25 '18 at 11:41
add a comment |
The PowerShell folks, on their blog, posted an article titled: Colorized capture of console screen in HTML and RTF
Once it's in a RTF file, with colors, open the RTF with Word or OpenOffice and copy the text to your target application.
As PowerShell is a nice replacement of cmd.exe with a lot more features, give it a try.
2
It's not so much a replacement as an alternative. Compatibility dictates that it can't replace cmd :-)
– Joey
Dec 2 '09 at 14:54
Yes, you're right, Johannes! "Danke schön" for the clarification :-) .
– Snark
Dec 2 '09 at 15:00
+Awesome! Thanks. It was a bit confusing at first since I had never used PowerShell, but it worked exactly as described.
– Keith Bentrup
Dec 3 '09 at 11:08
There is a Gist with the code: gist.github.com/LeoColomb/1a683e7a05da067259e9
– dualed
Oct 25 '18 at 11:41
add a comment |
The PowerShell folks, on their blog, posted an article titled: Colorized capture of console screen in HTML and RTF
Once it's in a RTF file, with colors, open the RTF with Word or OpenOffice and copy the text to your target application.
As PowerShell is a nice replacement of cmd.exe with a lot more features, give it a try.
The PowerShell folks, on their blog, posted an article titled: Colorized capture of console screen in HTML and RTF
Once it's in a RTF file, with colors, open the RTF with Word or OpenOffice and copy the text to your target application.
As PowerShell is a nice replacement of cmd.exe with a lot more features, give it a try.
answered Dec 2 '09 at 13:39
SnarkSnark
29.1k67689
29.1k67689
2
It's not so much a replacement as an alternative. Compatibility dictates that it can't replace cmd :-)
– Joey
Dec 2 '09 at 14:54
Yes, you're right, Johannes! "Danke schön" for the clarification :-) .
– Snark
Dec 2 '09 at 15:00
+Awesome! Thanks. It was a bit confusing at first since I had never used PowerShell, but it worked exactly as described.
– Keith Bentrup
Dec 3 '09 at 11:08
There is a Gist with the code: gist.github.com/LeoColomb/1a683e7a05da067259e9
– dualed
Oct 25 '18 at 11:41
add a comment |
2
It's not so much a replacement as an alternative. Compatibility dictates that it can't replace cmd :-)
– Joey
Dec 2 '09 at 14:54
Yes, you're right, Johannes! "Danke schön" for the clarification :-) .
– Snark
Dec 2 '09 at 15:00
+Awesome! Thanks. It was a bit confusing at first since I had never used PowerShell, but it worked exactly as described.
– Keith Bentrup
Dec 3 '09 at 11:08
There is a Gist with the code: gist.github.com/LeoColomb/1a683e7a05da067259e9
– dualed
Oct 25 '18 at 11:41
2
2
It's not so much a replacement as an alternative. Compatibility dictates that it can't replace cmd :-)
– Joey
Dec 2 '09 at 14:54
It's not so much a replacement as an alternative. Compatibility dictates that it can't replace cmd :-)
– Joey
Dec 2 '09 at 14:54
Yes, you're right, Johannes! "Danke schön" for the clarification :-) .
– Snark
Dec 2 '09 at 15:00
Yes, you're right, Johannes! "Danke schön" for the clarification :-) .
– Snark
Dec 2 '09 at 15:00
+Awesome! Thanks. It was a bit confusing at first since I had never used PowerShell, but it worked exactly as described.
– Keith Bentrup
Dec 3 '09 at 11:08
+Awesome! Thanks. It was a bit confusing at first since I had never used PowerShell, but it worked exactly as described.
– Keith Bentrup
Dec 3 '09 at 11:08
There is a Gist with the code: gist.github.com/LeoColomb/1a683e7a05da067259e9
– dualed
Oct 25 '18 at 11:41
There is a Gist with the code: gist.github.com/LeoColomb/1a683e7a05da067259e9
– dualed
Oct 25 '18 at 11:41
add a comment |
Colours in cmd are not the same as normal colours, it's the interpreter interpreting colour codes. I do not believe it's possible to do, and checking in Console2, it can't do it either, so it's probably for a very good reason.
AFAIK, Windows Console doesn't support ANSI colour codes (as Unix terminal emulators do); the program must call special functions to set the text colour. Also, a program can read the complete contents of its screen buffer (that's how that PowerShell snippet works) -- and it would be possible to make Console2 remember everything too. There's no real reason preventing it.
– grawity
Dec 2 '09 at 13:53
Well, I'm often wrong ;) I assumed the two would work similarly, as cygwin's tools have working colour, but they must have implemented that themselves.
– Phoshi
Dec 2 '09 at 16:16
@grawity looks like ansi is supported natively in windows console in windows 10 msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/…
– Antony Hatchkins
Nov 14 '16 at 5:43
add a comment |
Colours in cmd are not the same as normal colours, it's the interpreter interpreting colour codes. I do not believe it's possible to do, and checking in Console2, it can't do it either, so it's probably for a very good reason.
AFAIK, Windows Console doesn't support ANSI colour codes (as Unix terminal emulators do); the program must call special functions to set the text colour. Also, a program can read the complete contents of its screen buffer (that's how that PowerShell snippet works) -- and it would be possible to make Console2 remember everything too. There's no real reason preventing it.
– grawity
Dec 2 '09 at 13:53
Well, I'm often wrong ;) I assumed the two would work similarly, as cygwin's tools have working colour, but they must have implemented that themselves.
– Phoshi
Dec 2 '09 at 16:16
@grawity looks like ansi is supported natively in windows console in windows 10 msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/…
– Antony Hatchkins
Nov 14 '16 at 5:43
add a comment |
Colours in cmd are not the same as normal colours, it's the interpreter interpreting colour codes. I do not believe it's possible to do, and checking in Console2, it can't do it either, so it's probably for a very good reason.
Colours in cmd are not the same as normal colours, it's the interpreter interpreting colour codes. I do not believe it's possible to do, and checking in Console2, it can't do it either, so it's probably for a very good reason.
answered Dec 2 '09 at 13:05
PhoshiPhoshi
21.2k25277
21.2k25277
AFAIK, Windows Console doesn't support ANSI colour codes (as Unix terminal emulators do); the program must call special functions to set the text colour. Also, a program can read the complete contents of its screen buffer (that's how that PowerShell snippet works) -- and it would be possible to make Console2 remember everything too. There's no real reason preventing it.
– grawity
Dec 2 '09 at 13:53
Well, I'm often wrong ;) I assumed the two would work similarly, as cygwin's tools have working colour, but they must have implemented that themselves.
– Phoshi
Dec 2 '09 at 16:16
@grawity looks like ansi is supported natively in windows console in windows 10 msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/…
– Antony Hatchkins
Nov 14 '16 at 5:43
add a comment |
AFAIK, Windows Console doesn't support ANSI colour codes (as Unix terminal emulators do); the program must call special functions to set the text colour. Also, a program can read the complete contents of its screen buffer (that's how that PowerShell snippet works) -- and it would be possible to make Console2 remember everything too. There's no real reason preventing it.
– grawity
Dec 2 '09 at 13:53
Well, I'm often wrong ;) I assumed the two would work similarly, as cygwin's tools have working colour, but they must have implemented that themselves.
– Phoshi
Dec 2 '09 at 16:16
@grawity looks like ansi is supported natively in windows console in windows 10 msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/…
– Antony Hatchkins
Nov 14 '16 at 5:43
AFAIK, Windows Console doesn't support ANSI colour codes (as Unix terminal emulators do); the program must call special functions to set the text colour. Also, a program can read the complete contents of its screen buffer (that's how that PowerShell snippet works) -- and it would be possible to make Console2 remember everything too. There's no real reason preventing it.
– grawity
Dec 2 '09 at 13:53
AFAIK, Windows Console doesn't support ANSI colour codes (as Unix terminal emulators do); the program must call special functions to set the text colour. Also, a program can read the complete contents of its screen buffer (that's how that PowerShell snippet works) -- and it would be possible to make Console2 remember everything too. There's no real reason preventing it.
– grawity
Dec 2 '09 at 13:53
Well, I'm often wrong ;) I assumed the two would work similarly, as cygwin's tools have working colour, but they must have implemented that themselves.
– Phoshi
Dec 2 '09 at 16:16
Well, I'm often wrong ;) I assumed the two would work similarly, as cygwin's tools have working colour, but they must have implemented that themselves.
– Phoshi
Dec 2 '09 at 16:16
@grawity looks like ansi is supported natively in windows console in windows 10 msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/…
– Antony Hatchkins
Nov 14 '16 at 5:43
@grawity looks like ansi is supported natively in windows console in windows 10 msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/…
– Antony Hatchkins
Nov 14 '16 at 5:43
add a comment |
There is a long winded way of doing it, using screen capture?
- Hit Alt+PrtScr
- This will copy the window to the clipboard
- From Start, enter
mspaint
- Click on Edit/Paste or Ctrl-V to paste the contents of clipboard
- Edit it to only show the command box and save it to PNG (GIF will lead to Paint dithering the classic grey text, and JPEG would create artefacts around your text).
Then those screen capture shots, will be ready to be inserted into Word as an image for documenting purposes. Of course, it's not text, so it won't be selectable. But it may be better than nothing.
The only thing this workaround is missing would be running OCR against the output image :) Overkill? Possibly, but probably easier to deal with than the accepted answer.
– kayleeFrye_onDeck
Feb 14 at 21:05
add a comment |
There is a long winded way of doing it, using screen capture?
- Hit Alt+PrtScr
- This will copy the window to the clipboard
- From Start, enter
mspaint
- Click on Edit/Paste or Ctrl-V to paste the contents of clipboard
- Edit it to only show the command box and save it to PNG (GIF will lead to Paint dithering the classic grey text, and JPEG would create artefacts around your text).
Then those screen capture shots, will be ready to be inserted into Word as an image for documenting purposes. Of course, it's not text, so it won't be selectable. But it may be better than nothing.
The only thing this workaround is missing would be running OCR against the output image :) Overkill? Possibly, but probably easier to deal with than the accepted answer.
– kayleeFrye_onDeck
Feb 14 at 21:05
add a comment |
There is a long winded way of doing it, using screen capture?
- Hit Alt+PrtScr
- This will copy the window to the clipboard
- From Start, enter
mspaint
- Click on Edit/Paste or Ctrl-V to paste the contents of clipboard
- Edit it to only show the command box and save it to PNG (GIF will lead to Paint dithering the classic grey text, and JPEG would create artefacts around your text).
Then those screen capture shots, will be ready to be inserted into Word as an image for documenting purposes. Of course, it's not text, so it won't be selectable. But it may be better than nothing.
There is a long winded way of doing it, using screen capture?
- Hit Alt+PrtScr
- This will copy the window to the clipboard
- From Start, enter
mspaint
- Click on Edit/Paste or Ctrl-V to paste the contents of clipboard
- Edit it to only show the command box and save it to PNG (GIF will lead to Paint dithering the classic grey text, and JPEG would create artefacts around your text).
Then those screen capture shots, will be ready to be inserted into Word as an image for documenting purposes. Of course, it's not text, so it won't be selectable. But it may be better than nothing.
edited Feb 14 at 23:18
answered Dec 2 '09 at 14:30
t0mm13bt0mm13b
673514
673514
The only thing this workaround is missing would be running OCR against the output image :) Overkill? Possibly, but probably easier to deal with than the accepted answer.
– kayleeFrye_onDeck
Feb 14 at 21:05
add a comment |
The only thing this workaround is missing would be running OCR against the output image :) Overkill? Possibly, but probably easier to deal with than the accepted answer.
– kayleeFrye_onDeck
Feb 14 at 21:05
The only thing this workaround is missing would be running OCR against the output image :) Overkill? Possibly, but probably easier to deal with than the accepted answer.
– kayleeFrye_onDeck
Feb 14 at 21:05
The only thing this workaround is missing would be running OCR against the output image :) Overkill? Possibly, but probably easier to deal with than the accepted answer.
– kayleeFrye_onDeck
Feb 14 at 21:05
add a comment |
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