Visual Studio Code - Open Source. VS Code is a type of tool that combines the simplicity of a code editor with what developers need for their core edit-build-debug cycle. It provides comprehensive editing and debugging support, an extensibility model, and lightweight integration with existing tools. Integrated Terminal. In Visual Studio Code, you can open an integrated terminal, initially starting at the root of your workspace. This can be very convenient as.
Visual Studio Code has a powerful command line interface built-in that lets you control how you launch the editor. You can open files, install extensions, change the display language, and output diagnostics through command-line options (switches).
If you are looking for how to run command-line tools inside VS Code, see the Integrated Terminal.
Command line help
To get an overview of the VS Code command line interface, open a terminal or command prompt and type
code --help
. You will see the version, usage example, and list of command line options.Launching from command line
You can launch VS Code from the command line to quickly open a file, folder, or project. Typically, you open VS Code within the context of a folder. To do this, from an open terminal or command prompt, navigate to your project folder and type
code .
:Note: Users on macOS must first run a command (Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH) to add VS Code executable to the
PATH
environment variable. Read the macOS setup guide for help.Windows and Linux installations should add the VS Code binaries location to your system path. If this isn't the case, you can manually add the location to the
Path
environment variable ($PATH
on Linux). For example, on Windows, VS Code is installed under AppDataLocalProgramsMicrosoft VS Codebin
. To review platform specific setup instructions, see Setup.Insiders: If you are using the VS Code Insiders preview, you launch your Insiders build with
code-insiders
.Core CLI options
Here are optional arguments you can use when starting VS Code at the command line via
code
:Argument | Description |
---|---|
-h or --help | Print usage |
-v or --version | Print VS Code version (for example, 1.22.2), GitHub commit id, and architecture (for example, x64). |
-n or --new-window | Opens a new session of VS Code instead of restoring the previous session (default). |
-r or --reuse-window | Forces opening a file or folder in the last active window. |
-g or --goto | When used with file:line[:character], opens a file at a specific line and optional character position. This argument is provided since some operating systems permit : in a file name. |
-d or --diff | Open a file difference editor. Requires two file paths as arguments. |
-w or --wait | Wait for the files to be closed before returning. |
--locale <locale> | Set the display language (locale) for the VS Code session. (for example, en-US or zh-TW ) |
Opening Files and Folders
Sometimes you will want to open or create a file. If the specified file does not exist, VS Code will create them for you along with any new intermediate folders:
For both files and folders, you can use absolute or relative paths. Relative paths are relative to the current directory of the command prompt where you run
code
.If you specify more than one file at the command line, VS Code will open only a single instance.
If you specify more than one folder at the command line, VS Code will create a Multi-root Workspace including each folder.
Argument | Description |
---|---|
file | Name of a file to open. If the file doesn't exist, it will be created and marked as edited. You can specify multiple files by separating each file name with a space. |
file:line[:character] | Used with the -g argument. Name of a file to open at the specified line and optional character position. You can specify multiple files in this manner, but you must use the -g argument (once) before using the file:line[:character] specifier. |
folder | Name of a folder to open. You can specify multiple folders and a new Multi-root Workspace is created. |
Working with extensions
You can install and manage VS Code extensions from the command line.
Argument | Description |
---|---|
--install-extension <ext> | Install an extension. Provide the full extension name publisher.extension as an argument. Use --force argument to avoid prompts. |
--uninstall-extension <ext> | Uninstall an extension. Provide the full extension name publisher.extension as an argument. |
--disable-extensions | Disable all installed extensions. Extensions will still be visible in the Disabled section of the Extensions view but they will never be activated. |
--list-extensions | List the installed extensions. |
--show-versions | Show versions of installed extensions, when using --list-extensions |
--enable-proposed-api <ext> | Enables proposed api features for an extension. Provide the full extension name publisher.extension as an argument. |
Advanced CLI options
There are several CLI options that help with reproducing errors and advanced setup.
Argument | Description |
---|---|
--extensions-dir <dir> | Set the root path for extensions. |
--user-data-dir <dir> | Specifies the directory that user data is kept in, useful when running as root. |
-s, --status | Print process usage and diagnostics information. |
-p, --performance | Start with the Developer: Startup Performance command enabled. |
--disable-gpu | Disable GPU hardware acceleration. |
--verbose | Print verbose output (implies --wait ). |
--prof-startup | Run CPU profiler during startup. |
--upload-logs | Uploads logs from current session to a secure endpoint. |
Multi-root | |
--add <dir> | Add folder(s) to the last active window for a multi-root workspace. |
Opening VS Code with URLs
You can also open projects and files using the platform's URL handling mechanism. Use the following URL formats to:
Open a project
Open a file
Open a file to line and column
You can use the URL in applications such as browsers or file explorers that can parse and redirect the URL. For example, on Windows, you could pass a
vscode://
URL directly to the Windows Explorer or to the command line as start vscode://{full path to file}
.Note: If you are using VS Code Insiders builds, the URL prefix is
vscode-insiders://
.Next steps
Read on to find out about:
- Integrated Terminal - Run command-line tools from inside VS Code.
- Basic Editing - Learn the basics of the VS Code editor.
- Code Navigation - VS Code lets you quickly understand and move through your source code.
Common questions
'code' is not recognized as an internal or external command
Your OS can not find the VS Code binary
code
on its path. The VS Code Windows and Linux installations should have installed VS Code on your path. Try uninstalling and reinstalling VS Code. If code
is still not found, consult the platform specific setup topics for Windows and Linux.On macOS, you need to manually run the Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH command (available through the Command Palette⇧⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+P)). Consult the macOS specific setup topic for details.
How do I get access to a command line (terminal) from within VS Code?
VS Code has an Integrated Terminal where you can run command-line tools from within VS Code.
Can I specify the settings location for VS Code in order to have a portable version?
Not directly through the command line, but VS Code has a Portable Mode which lets you keep settings and data in the same location as your installation, for example, on a USB drive.
Setting up PowerShell as default terminal in Visual Studio Code (Windows and Mac OS)
readme.md
commented Sep 11, 2018
It does not work for windows 8.1 and 7 ? |
commented Nov 12, 2018
The powershell path is wrong for windows 10 (At least on my install). Also, why would you have us change the default zoom to 2...That's a user preference and has nothing to do with the react tutorial? |
commented May 11, 2019
In Windows 10 the path is incorrect. You need to replace sysnative with System32 Then it will work. |
commented Jun 3, 2019
How do you alter this so its an admin shell? |
commented Jun 6, 2019
In macOS, the correct path is: 'terminal.integrated.shell.osx': '/usr/local/bin/pwsh' |
commented Jun 9, 2019 • edited
edited
for windows 8 use this path 'C:WINDOWSSystem32WindowsPowerShellv1.0powershell.exe' this might work for windows 7 as well but never tried it so if this works for anyone please comment |
commented Jul 9, 2019
Whats with the zoomlevel? |
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