Emulating PowerShell Keyboard Text Selection in WSL and Windows Terminal

Emulating PowerShell Keyboard Text Selection in WSL on Windows Terminal

If you're new to using the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and the Windows Terminal, you might be wondering how to make the keyboard text selection behave like it does in PowerShell. This article will cover the key concepts and provide a detailed context on the topic, including subtitles and paragraphs, as well as code blocks formatted according to programming language conventions.

Understanding the Difference

By default, WSL and the Windows Terminal use different keyboard shortcuts for selecting text than PowerShell. For example, to select text in PowerShell, you can hold down the "Shift" key and use the arrow keys to highlight the desired text. However, in WSL and the Windows Terminal, this shortcut does not work.

Emulating PowerShell Keyboard Text Selection in WSL

To emulate PowerShell keyboard text selection in WSL on the Windows Terminal, you can use the following keyboard shortcut:

This shortcut allows you to select text in WSL on the Windows Terminal using the same keyboard shortcut as in PowerShell. To copy the selected text, you can use the following keyboard shortcut:

To paste the copied text, you can use the following keyboard shortcut:

Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts

If you prefer to use different keyboard shortcuts for selecting and copying text in WSL on the Windows Terminal, you can customize the keyboard shortcuts to suit your preferences. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the Windows Terminal.
2. Click on the "Down" arrow in the top right corner of the window and select "Settings" from the dropdown menu.
3. In the "Settings" window, click on the "Actions" tab.
4. Scroll down to the "Copy" and "Paste" actions and click on the corresponding "Send Input" field.
5. Enter the desired keyboard shortcut in the "Send Input" field.
6. Click on the "Save" button to save your changes.

• By default, WSL and the Windows Terminal use different keyboard shortcuts for selecting text than PowerShell.
• To emulate PowerShell keyboard text selection in WSL on the Windows Terminal, use the Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Left Mouse Button shortcut.
• To customize keyboard shortcuts in WSL on the Windows Terminal, open the "Settings" window, click on the "Actions" tab, and enter the desired keyboard shortcut in the "Send Input" field for the "Copy" and "Paste" actions.

References

• Windows Terminal Documentation
• Windows Subsystem for Linux Documentation
• How to Copy and Paste in Windows Terminal with WSL 2

Note: This article assumes that you have already installed WSL and the Windows Terminal on your Windows 11 system. If you have not yet installed these tools, you can find installation instructions in the official documentation linked above.