# Open a PoPy Command Prompt

To gain access to the Command Line Tools you need to invoke the PoPy command prompt environment.

There are three main ways of starting a PoPy command prompt:-

- Desktop Shortcut Method
- Terminal popy_env Method
- Copy popy_cmd.exe Method

To check that you are currently within a PoPy environment, see Verify PoPy Environment.

## Desktop Shortcut Method

Left mouse click on the ‘PoPy Command Prompt’ shortcut on your Desktop or alternatively within the Start Menu (in the PoPy folder). This will open a PoPy command prompt in the directory where you installed PoPy.

For example, if you click the PoPy shortcut and installed PoPy to the directory:-

    c:\PoPy

You should see something like Fig. 46:-

Fig. 46 PoPy dos prompt

## Terminal popy_env Method

Open a command prompt in any folder on your computer. It is highly recommended that you use the traditional ‘cmd’ dos prompt, in preference to the Windows Powershell.

A simple way of opening a command prompt in a specific folder is to:-

- navigate to the folder in Windows Explorer
- left mouse click on the path dialog box
- type ‘cmd’
- press return

For example if you navigate to the directory:-

    c:\Users\david\

Then type ‘cmd’ over the Windows Explorer path, a plain dos command prompt should appear like this Fig. 47:-

Fig. 47 Plain command prompt

Then type:-

    $ popy_env

You should see the text:-

    Welcome to PoPy Binary

After running popy_env the terminal should look something like Fig. 48:-

Fig. 48 PoPy command prompt

Note the colour of the dos prompt text will change from white to pale blue.

## Copy popy_cmd.exe Method

An alternative method for starting PoPy in any folder is to simply copy the file ‘popy_cmd.exe’ from your PoPy install directory to a new location.

Then simply clicking on ‘popy_cmd.exe’ will start a PoPy environment in the same directory.

For example copy this file:-

    c:\PoPy\popy_cmd.exe

to the directory:-

    c:\Users\david\my_work\

Click on ‘popy_cmd.exe’ within the ‘my_work’ directory and you should see Fig. 49:-

Fig. 49 PoPy command prompt in the ‘c:\Users\david\my_work' folder.

## Verify PoPy Environment

The light blue text signifies that you are within a PoPy environment. You can verify this further by running popy_info:-

    $ popy_info

You can also verify that the system path has changed. e.g in a command prompt:-

    $ echo %PATH%

The system path should start with:-

    c:\PoPy\bin

Or wherever PoPy is installed.

You should be able to run all the Command Line Tools now.