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Cmder is a **software package** created out of pure frustration over absence of usable console emulator on Windows. It is based on [ConEmu](https://conemu.github.io/) with *major* config overhaul, comes with a Monokai color scheme, amazing [clink](https://github.com/mridgers/clink) (further enhanced by [clink-completions](https://github.com/vladimir-kotikov/clink-completions)) and a custom prompt layout.
The main advantage of Cmder is portability. It is designed to be totally self-contained with no external dependencies, which makes it great for **USB Sticks** or **cloud storage**. So you can carry your console, aliases and binaries (like wget, curl and git) with you anywhere.
Cmder, Powershell, and Bash tabs all run on top of the Windows Console API and work as you might expect in Cmder with access to use ConEmu's color schemes, key bindings and other settings defined in the ConEmu Settings dialog.
Mintty tabs use a program called 'mintty' as the terminal that is not based on the Windows Console API so some differences in functionality are normal, as a result mintty specific config is done via the '[%USERPROFILE%|$HOME]/.minttyrc' file.
Mintty differs from the other tabs in that it supports xterm/xterm-256color TERM types, and does not work with ConEmu settings like color schemes and key bindings. For more on Mintty and its config click [here](https://code.google.com/p/mintty/).
An example of setting Cmder portable terminal colors for mintty:
You can define simple aliases for `cmd.exe` sessions with a command like `alias name=command`. Cmd.exe aliases support optional parameters through the `$1-9` or the `$*` special characters so the alias `vi=vim.exe $*` typed as `vi [filename]` will open `[filename]` in `vim.exe`.
Cmd.exe aliases can also be more complex. See: [DOSKEY.EXE documentation](http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/doskey.mspx?mfr=true) for additional details on complex aliases/macros for 'cmd.exe'
Aliases defined using the `alias.bat` command will automatically be saved in the `%CMDER_ROOT%\config\aliases` file
#### Bash.exe|Mintty.exe Aliases
Bash shells support simple and complex aliases with optional parameters natively so they work a little different. Typing `alias name=command` will create an alias only for the current running session. To make an alias permanent add it to either your `$CMDER_ROOT/config/user-profile.sh` or your `$HOME/.bashrc`.
If you add bash aliases to `$CMDER_ROOT/config/user-profile.sh` they will portable and follow your Cmder folder if you copy it to another machine. `$HOME/.bashrc` defined aliases are not portable.
Powershell has native simple alias support, for example `[new-alias | set-alias] alias command`, so complex aliases with optional parameters are not supported in Powershell sessions. Type `get-help [new-alias|set-alias] -full` for help on Powershell aliases.
If you want to run SSH agent on startup, include the line `@call "%GIT_INSTALL_ROOT%/cmd/start-ssh-agent.cmd"` in `%CMDER_ROOT%/config/user-profile.cmd` (usually just uncomment it).
Copy the 'vendor/cmder_exinit' file to the Cygwin/Babun, MSys2, or Git for Windows SDK environments ```/etc/profile.d/``` folder to use portable settings in the $CMDER_ROOT/config folder.
Note: MinGW could work if the init scripts include profile.d but this has not been tested.
