This section assumes at least basic familiarity with the command-line interpreter of a Unix, Windows or similar operating system.

Just as with most other command lines, spaces are used to separate command-line parameters to programs. If a string containing spaces needs to be passed as a single parameter, it should be enclosed with double quotes ("), for example:

javac "C:\Source Code\TestServlet.java"

Not all commands result in an external process being spawned; the system shell supports "built-ins", which are handled by the Console plugin itself. Built-ins are prefixed with "%" to distinguish them from external commands.

Currently selected text is passed to the program on standard input. In conjunction with the Run to buffer button, this allows quick filtering of buffer text using shell tools.

Pressing Tab in the console's command input field will attempt to complete the filename or command before the caret. If there is more than one possible completion, they will be listed in the output area.

Processes that read from standard input might work. You can press Control-D to send an end-of-file. Note that since the plugin does not provide a pseudo-terminal, so some programs, such as shells that use getline() or curses(), might not behave properly inside a console window.