Set Up PowerShell for Python

Set-Up-PowerShell-for-Python.md

1. Install Scoop
Scoop is a command-line installer for Windows -- it's like Homebrew for Windows. It installs programs from the command line with a minimal amount of friction. More info about scoop is available here: https://gist.github.com/andrew-rietz/66e4ebcf96f85b6618b078ebe00104b1
To install, open PowerShell and execute the following command:

iex (new-object net.webclient).downloadstring('https://get.scoop.sh')

2. Use Scoop to install some awesome helper applications
We'll use Scoop to install a couple applications: posh-git and starship. Posh-git adds a lot of the convenience features you get in git bash directly into PowerShell (autocompletion, etc.). We'll also install starship.rs: a customizeable prompt for many of the common shells (Bash, Fish, Zsh, PowerShell).

scoop bucket add extras  
scoop install posh-git  
scoop install starship  

3. Configure starship Next, configure starhip.

• Create a starship configuration file

  mkdir -p ~/.config
  touch ~/.config/starship.toml
  

• There are all sorts of customization options for starship (more info here: https://starship.rs/config/#prompt). The example below is a good starting point.

  [character]
  success_symbol = ">"
  error_symbol = ">"
  
  [directory]
  truncation_length = 3
  truncate_to_repo = false
  
  [git_status]
  format = '([\[$all_status$ahead_behind \]]($style) )'
  ahead = " ahead by:${count}"
  behind = " behind by:${count}"
  diverged = " DIVERGED"
  modified = " mod:${count}"
  untracked = " untracked:${count}"
  staged = " staged:${count}"
  deleted = " deleted:${count}"
  renamed = ""
  
  [cmd_duration]
  disabled = false
  

• I prefer icons over emojis in my prompt - this page has additional lines to add to your starship.toml file if you prefer the same. https://starship.rs/presets/#nerd-font-symbols (Note, symbols likely won't render in the web because they require a specific font -- see the link at left to get the actual symbols.)

  [conda]
  symbol = "🅒 "
  
  [docker]
  symbol = " "
  
  [git_branch]
  symbol = " "
  
  [julia]
  symbol = " "
  
  [nodejs]
  symbol = " "
  
  [package]
  symbol = " "
  
  [python]
  symbol = " "
  

4. Edit (or create) your PowerShell profile.
The PowerShell profile is loaded each time you open a PowerShell window. Basically, it configures the shell to your preset preferences. We'll conigure our profile so that git-posh is loaded and we're using the starship prompt.

• Test if a profile already exists:

  Test-Path $profile
  

• If you have a profile already, then the value returned True. If the result was False then you don't have a profile yet. To create one, use the command below:

  New-Item -path $profile -type file -force
  

• Enter $profile in your shell to get the path to the file, and open it in your favorite editor.

• Add the following lines into your PowerShell profile

  $ENV:STARSHIP_CONFIG = "$HOME\.config\starship.toml"
  Import-Module posh-git
  Invoke-Expression (&starship init powershell)
  

5. Install a good font for use in the terminal
I recommend the FiraCode Nerd Font (available here: https://www.nerdfonts.com/font-downloads)

• Download the font
• Load it into the available fonts on your machine (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-install-or-remove-a-font-in-windows-f12d0657-2fc8-7613-c76f-88d043b334b8)

Note: You may need IT assistance for the font installation step.

1. Run Powershell as Administrator
2. Install Scoop (if it doesn't exist already)

iex (new-object net.webclient).downloadstring('https://get.scoop.sh')

3. Install git and FiraCode-NF

scoop install git
scoop bucket add nerd-fonts
scoop install FiraCode-NF

6. Finalize PowerShell config
Right-click on the top bar of your PowerShell window, then select Properties:

• Change the Screen Background color to your choice of color. I use (39, 40, 34).
• Under Font, select your choice of font. I use the FiraCode NF installed above

7. Close PowerShell and Open a New Instance
You should be all set!

The finished output: