At my most recent workplace they sadistically force everyone to use Windows 7. Being used to normal Unix command shells that one might find on Linux or MacOS machines, I was not happy about having to use cmd. However, I discovered MinGW, a program gives you BASH commands right in cmd! Although it's not 100% perfect, it definitely gets the job done and makes working with the command line in Windows a lot more comfortable and familiar. This is a short guide on setting it up.
Download the Exe
You can grab the installer by clicking the Download Installer button on the MinGW official website.
Run the Installer
The installer interface is a bit weird. Keep clicking next until you get to the checkbox page. I normally choose these options. If you will be using Ada, Fortran, or Objective-C you may want to check those boxes as well.
Add MinGW to Path Variable
Finally, you need to add the correct folders to your Path variable so that your command line will recognize it. Because I have two accounts for admin and regular access, I needed to add these to my System environment variables, but I would recommend adding them to your user environment variables unless you have to add them to system like I do. Check your file explorer to be sure these are the correct folder names and locations. Ensure that your current Path ends in a semicolon and then paste this onto the end.
C:\MinGW\bin;C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\bin;
Get To Work!
Now open up a new cmd window. If you've properly added MinGW to your Path then you should be able to BASH commands like ls. If it lists the contents of your current directory then you're all set. Now get going and make something awesome!
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