# Running and viewing commands using the Remote Shell view

You can open a shell for your local and remote systems, from the Remote System Explorer,

Opening the Remote Shell view and launching a command shell

In the Remote System Explorer, switch to the Remote Shell view by clicking Window > Show View > Remote Shell from the menu bar. To open a new shell in the Remote Shell view, click the down arrow in the view and select Launch shell. To launch a new shell for another connection requires that an existing shell for that connection is selected in the view. Otherwise, the shell must be launched from the Remote Systems, Remote System Details, or the Remote Shell view.

Working with shells

When the Remote Shell view is open, you can work with shells. A shell that preserves its environment across commands. The environment for all commands in the shell may change in response to your input. For example, if you type "cd .." you change the working directory for that shell.

Viewing output in an editor

You can double-click a line of output to open it in an editor. For example, if you encounter an error while running a command, you can double-click the error and the editor opens the source to the line of code where the parser found a problem.

Closing shells

The Cancel shell toolbar item is enabled when the currently displayed shell or command is active. Press Cancel Shell, to terminate that process. If the shell is active, it cancels the shell before removing it from the view.

Content assist

The Remote Shell view supports content assist. You can press CTRL+space to complete file names or environment variable names while you type commands.

Related concepts
Shells and commands in the Remote Systems view

Related tasks
Working with command shells