# Terminal not fully functional

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Created:** [October 25, 2024, 7:46am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737 "2024-10-25T07:46:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sammyD5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@sammyD5](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sammyD5)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 7:46am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/1 "2024-10-25T07:46:25Z")

</div>

Hello all,  
I am new to Julia and just after the installation I’ve run into some issues. When I am opening the terminal I am greeted by a warning message - “Warning: Terminal not fully functional - @Base client.jl.436”  
Following this every input provided is treated as a parse error where the operator not identified.

I’ll attach a screenshot herein. Any help regarding this matter will be much appreciated.

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/3/f/3f30f2a2915f34bbde922145cb3a8ba0f3428d37.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 7:50am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/2 "2024-10-25T07:50:07Z")

</div>

If you are on Windows, please install [Windows Terminal - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store](https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n0dx20hk701?hl=en-US&gl=US)

The default Windows terminal does not support all the text formatting features that Julia uses. Alternatively you can also use the terminal that is provided by VSCode.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nilshg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/nilshg/32/2283_2.png) [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 8:44am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/3 "2024-10-25T08:44:24Z")

</div>

But also note that the things you are trying here are simply parse errors because they are not valid Julia syntax, here’s what I get in my (fully functional) terminal:

```julia
julia> j?
ERROR: ParseError:
# Error @ REPL[55]:1:2
j?
#└ ── space required before `?` operator
Stacktrace:
 [1] top-level scope
   @ none:1

julia> ]
ERROR: ParseError:
# Error @ REPL[56]:1:2
 ]
#╙ ── unexpected `]`
Stacktrace:
 [1] top-level scope
   @ none:1

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![goerz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/goerz/32/3269_2.png) [@goerz](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/goerz)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 10:58am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/4 "2024-10-25T10:58:28Z")

</div>

> [@ufechner7](#):
>
> If you are on Windows, please install [Windows Terminal - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store](https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n0dx20hk701?hl=en-US&gl=US)

While you’re at it, you might as well install an even more modern terminal, like [WezTerm](https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/index.html).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sammyD5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@sammyD5](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sammyD5)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 10:59am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/5 "2024-10-25T10:59:51Z")

</div>

Hello @ufechner7, I have heeded your advice however in Windows Terminal gives me a different error text which I’ll add below.

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/5/f/5fff57be1eeaa1796b3677b8fa4d0a1c2b65a290.png)

However, I can use Julia in VSCode. And there it works just fine.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 11:08am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/6 "2024-10-25T11:08:28Z")

</div>

Did you install Julia using `juliaup` ? Normally that should set up the search path for Julia for you.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sammyD5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@sammyD5](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sammyD5)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 11:14am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/7 "2024-10-25T11:14:31Z")

</div>

I don’t think I did. As I said I did not have much knowledge in these stuff. So thanks and here’s what I’ll do -

- Uninstall all the existing julia version
- And then install Julia unsing juliaup  
Will try to keep this post updated.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sammyD5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@sammyD5](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sammyD5)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 11:22am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/8 "2024-10-25T11:22:43Z")

</div>

Hi @goerz, I’ll check it out. Thanks for sharing the information

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PeterSimon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/petersimon/32/25193_2.png) [@PeterSimon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PeterSimon)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/9 "2024-10-25T16:30:37Z")

</div>

Note that you can obtain Julia and juliaup from the Windows store at [this link](https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9njnww8pvkmn?hl=en-US&gl=US). It doesn’t explicitly say that you’re installing juliaup, but indeed this is the case.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sammyD5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@sammyD5](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sammyD5)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 3:46am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/10 "2024-10-26T03:46:06Z")

</div>

Hello guys, little update on the issue. I tried running the script -

```julia
winget install julia -s msstore
juliaup add 1.10
juliaup update

```

in Command Prompt after uninstalling everything but to no avail. And since the terminal is still no fully functional I am unable to run -

```julia
julia> ]
pkg> add MAGEMin_C 

```

I’ll attach a few more shots incase its needed.

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/9/1/91f4b023f2fa6acf09ac8a528e9006de13a6dbaf.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 4:12am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/11 "2024-10-26T04:12:41Z")

</div>

Two questions:

1. did you install and use [Windows Terminal - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store](https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n0dx20hk701?hl=en-US&gl=US) ?
2. what is not working?

It looks as if you can launch Julia from the command line.

If the installation of a package fails, please copy and paste both the commands you typed and the error message and enclose this in triple backticks, like ```

That is much easier to read and to reproduce than a screenshot.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sammyD5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@sammyD5](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sammyD5)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 6:06am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/12 "2024-10-26T06:06:25Z")

</div>

To answer your question - (1) Yes I have downloaded Windows Terminal and tried to operate on both Command Prompt and Windows PowerShell.  
(2) I cannot load packages in it. Generally once in Julia, pressing the ‘]’ should put the user in package mode where I can then load/unload any package needed for my work. However I am unable to go into that package mode.

```julia
C:\Users\21910478>julia
               _
   _ _ _(_)_ | Documentation: https://docs.julialang.org
  (_) | (_) (_) |
   _ _ _| |_ __ _ | Type "?" for help, "]?" for Pkg help.
  | | | | | | |/ _` | |
  | | |_| | | | (_| | | Version 1.11.1 (2024-10-16)
 _/ |\ __'_|_|_|\__'_| | Official https://julialang.org/ release
|__/ |

┌ Warning: Terminal not fully functional
└ @ Base client.jl:436
julia> ]
ERROR: ParseError:
# Error @ none:1:1
]
╙ ── unexpected `]`
Stacktrace:
 [1] top-level scope
   @ none:1

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 8:12am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/13 "2024-10-26T08:12:33Z")

</div>

That is very strange. Which version of Windows are you using? Which language?

And can you try:

```julia
using Pkg
pkg"add DataFrames"

```

or instead of DataFrames the package you want to install?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nilshg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/nilshg/32/2283_2.png) [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 8:51am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/14 "2024-10-26T08:51:54Z")

</div>

Just to be sure - the last screenshot you sent is still the old terminal, not the new Windows terminal. Are you saying if you start windows terminal and then type `julia`, the resulting Julia session still tells you the terminal isn’t fully functional?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eldee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5a626/32.png) [@eldee](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/eldee)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 9:14am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/15 "2024-10-26T09:14:07Z")

</div>

I’m not convinced using the Windows Terminal would solve the issue. When I run Julia in the Windows Console Host, I don’t run into any warnings (and ] works fine).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 9:17am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/16 "2024-10-26T09:17:27Z")

</div>

To launch the new Windows terminal, type “ter” and then click on “Terminal”.

 ![Screenshot (2)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/0/8/0805079d5bf8b401c7b762fa260e8e3f18e0347b.jpeg)

And this is how it looks:

 ![Screenshot (3)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/5/2/522735e15795433fa0525e769eebb746f336f37b.jpeg)

In contrast to the old command prompt it has “tabs” at the top.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eldee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5a626/32.png) [@eldee](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/eldee)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 9:25am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/17 "2024-10-26T09:25:39Z")

</div>

By the way have you looked at [this thread](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/warning-terminal-not-fully-functional-with-julia-1-0-5-on-windows/67522) and @mkitti’s potential fix?

> [@Warning: Terminal not fully functional with Julia 1.0.5 on Windows](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/warning-terminal-not-fully-functional-with-julia-1-0-5-on-windows/67522/25):
>
> Here’s my illustration of the problem:
> 
> ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/f/d/fd4f509bb49660fc1d635b581b20edf5a101a805.png)
> 
> I first do `set TERM=dumb` which forces Julia into Basic REPL mode. Neither the Pkg or Help modes work as you experienced.
> 
> If I do `set TERM=` and then press enter. This sets the variable to an empty string. I clear the `TERM` environmental variable and then Julia functions as normal, allowing me to access the pkg and help modes as normal.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sammyD5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@sammyD5](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sammyD5)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/18 "2024-10-28T02:08:27Z")

</div>

Yes using the script it works fine. So thanks for that.

```julia
using Pkg
pkg"add DataFrames"

```

However I would still prefer to solve the issue so that it can run normally so please do let me know if you have any other insights or ideas.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sammyD5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@sammyD5](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sammyD5)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:09am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/19 "2024-10-28T02:09:42Z")

</div>

Yes the last screenshot was from the old terminal however irrespective of the terminal I am using I still land up with the terminal not being fully functional.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sammyD5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@sammyD5](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sammyD5)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:13am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737/20 "2024-10-28T02:13:21Z")

</div>

Yes I did go through this post before writing up here but nothing in there worked for me.

```julia
PS C:\Users\21910478> set TERM=
PS C:\Users\21910478> julia
               _
   _ _ _(_)_ | Documentation: https://docs.julialang.org
  (_) | (_) (_) |
   _ _ _| |_ __ _ | Type "?" for help, "]?" for Pkg help.
  | | | | | | |/ _` | |
  | | |_| | | | (_| | | Version 1.10.5 (2024-08-27)
 _/ |\ __'_|_|_|\__'_| | Official https://julialang.org/ release
|__/ |

┌ Warning: Terminal not fully functional
└ @ Base client.jl:422
julia> get(ENV, "TERM", "")
"dumb"

julia> ]

```

[Next page](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/terminal-not-fully-functional/121737.md?page=2)