terminal: Fix double quoting of commands on Windows cmd.exe by lingyaochu · Pull Request #47534 · zed-industries/zed

lingyaochu · 2026-01-24T08:29:47Z

The command quoting for cmd shell was first introduced (at least in this case) in PR #41216 three months ago:

Lines 202 to 210 in 3d4582d

    
           let mut arg = 
        
               format!("{activation_script}{separator} {to_run}"); 
        
           if shell_kind == ShellKind::Cmd { 
        
               // We need to put the entire command in quotes since otherwise CMD tries to execute them 
        
               // as separate commands rather than chaining one after another. 
        
               arg = format!("\"{arg}\""); 
        
           } 
        
           let args = shell_kind.args_for_shell(false, arg);

And a month ago, PR #42382 added command quoting for cmd in a different place:

zed/crates/util/src/shell.rs

Lines 413 to 434 in 3d4582d

    
           pub fn args_for_shell(&self, interactive: bool, combined_command: String) -> Vec<String> { 
        
               match self { 
        
                   ShellKind::PowerShell | ShellKind::Pwsh => vec!["-C".to_owned(), combined_command], 
        
                   ShellKind::Cmd => vec![ 
        
                       "/S".to_owned(), 
        
                       "/C".to_owned(), 
        
                       format!("\"{combined_command}\""), 
        
                   ], 
        
                   ShellKind::Posix 
        
                   | ShellKind::Nushell 
        
                   | ShellKind::Fish 
        
                   | ShellKind::Csh 
        
                   | ShellKind::Tcsh 
        
                   | ShellKind::Rc 
        
                   | ShellKind::Xonsh 
        
                   | ShellKind::Elvish => interactive 
        
                       .then(|| "-i".to_owned()) 
        
                       .into_iter() 
        
                       .chain(["-c".to_owned(), combined_command]) 
        
                       .collect(), 
        
               } 
        
           }

As a result, the command is now quoted twice when using cmd. cmd interprets the entire double-quoted string (e.g., ""command & args"") as a single (invalid) executable name, and this would lead to an error like “The system cannot find the path specified” in #47303 .

The solution is to remove the redundant manual quoting in terminals.rs and rely on the centralized logic in util/src/shell.rs.

/cc @Veykril @reflectronic

Release Notes:

Fixed a bug where terminal tasks failed to start on Windows when using cmd.exe.

Veykril

Thanks!

Veykril · 2026-01-26T07:15:29Z

/cherry-pick preview

@Veykril

Closes #47303 The command quoting for `cmd` shell was first introduced (at least in this case) in PR #41216 three months ago: https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/3d4582d4dc9145270650e12f9ce5a534b888f4a2/crates/project/src/terminals.rs#L202-L210 And a month ago, PR #42382 added command quoting for `cmd` in a different place: https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/3d4582d4dc9145270650e12f9ce5a534b888f4a2/crates/util/src/shell.rs#L413-L434 As a result, the command is now quoted twice when using `cmd`. `cmd` interprets the entire double-quoted string (e.g., ""command & args"") as a single (invalid) executable name, and this would lead to an error like “The system cannot find the path specified” in #47303 . The solution is to remove the redundant manual quoting in `terminals.rs` and rely on the centralized logic in `util/src/shell.rs`. /cc @Veykril @reflectronic Release Notes: - Fixed a bug where terminal tasks failed to start on Windows when using `cmd.exe`.

@Veykril

…(cherry-pick to preview) (#47627) Cherry-pick of #47534 to preview ---- Closes #47303 The command quoting for `cmd` shell was first introduced (at least in this case) in PR #41216 three months ago: https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/3d4582d4dc9145270650e12f9ce5a534b888f4a2/crates/project/src/terminals.rs#L202-L210 And a month ago, PR #42382 added command quoting for `cmd` in a different place: https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/3d4582d4dc9145270650e12f9ce5a534b888f4a2/crates/util/src/shell.rs#L413-L434 As a result, the command is now quoted twice when using `cmd`. `cmd` interprets the entire double-quoted string (e.g., ""command & args"") as a single (invalid) executable name, and this would lead to an error like “The system cannot find the path specified” in #47303 . The solution is to remove the redundant manual quoting in `terminals.rs` and rely on the centralized logic in `util/src/shell.rs`. /cc @Veykril @reflectronic Release Notes: - Fixed a bug where terminal tasks failed to start on Windows when using `cmd.exe`. Co-authored-by: Xin Zhao <zx0@mail.ustc.edu.cn>

Fix the quote command for cmd shell

11ff9c2

cla-bot bot added the cla-signed The user has signed the Contributor License Agreement label Jan 24, 2026

SomeoneToIgnore assigned Veykril Jan 24, 2026

Veykril approved these changes Jan 26, 2026

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Veykril enabled auto-merge (squash) January 26, 2026 07:15

Veykril merged commit 7af276a into zed-industries:main Jan 26, 2026
30 checks passed

zed-zippy bot mentioned this pull request Jan 26, 2026

terminal: Fix double quoting of commands on Windows cmd.exe (#47534) (cherry-pick to preview) #47627

Merged

lingyaochu deleted the python_debugger branch January 27, 2026 09:55

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terminal: Fix double quoting of commands on Windows cmd.exe#47534

terminal: Fix double quoting of commands on Windows cmd.exe#47534
Veykril merged 1 commit intozed-industries:mainfrom
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lingyaochu commented Jan 24, 2026 •

edited

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	let mut arg =
	format!("{activation_script}{separator} {to_run}");
	if shell_kind == ShellKind::Cmd {
	// We need to put the entire command in quotes since otherwise CMD tries to execute them
	// as separate commands rather than chaining one after another.
	arg = format!("\"{arg}\"");
	}

	let args = shell_kind.args_for_shell(false, arg);

	pub fn args_for_shell(&self, interactive: bool, combined_command: String) -> Vec<String> {
	match self {
	ShellKind::PowerShell \| ShellKind::Pwsh => vec!["-C".to_owned(), combined_command],
	ShellKind::Cmd => vec![
	"/S".to_owned(),
	"/C".to_owned(),
	format!("\"{combined_command}\""),
	],
	ShellKind::Posix
	\| ShellKind::Nushell
	\| ShellKind::Fish
	\| ShellKind::Csh
	\| ShellKind::Tcsh
	\| ShellKind::Rc
	\| ShellKind::Xonsh
	\| ShellKind::Elvish => interactive
	.then(\|\| "-i".to_owned())
	.into_iter()
	.chain(["-c".to_owned(), combined_command])
	.collect(),
	}
	}

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Veykril commented Jan 26, 2026

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lingyaochu commented Jan 24, 2026 •

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