cygwin -- getting *shell* to parse pipes & other unix cmd-line stuff?

[dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs)]

On XP, I've been using cygwin and emacs for some time now.

One thing I have (incorrectly?) noted:

If I do START --> run --> cmd-window, and get that
little white-on-black blackboard-like window, yes
I can run sh, etc, and it all seems to work, even
complicated command-lines.

A problem with that (horrible) method is that:

a: there's no way to "paste" a long command or anything
   else into that window -- you have to type everything
   in *by hand*.  So lots of typos you wouldn't have
   if you could just cut from somewhere and pasted
   into that blackboard-like window.

b: no way to get it to go full-screen.

c: and so on.

But yes, you can at least run a unix command-line,
pipes, `expand me exprs`, etc, all that good
stuff.

----

What would be really NICE would to be able to do
that from *shell*.

But I don't seem able to run the cygwin "sh" or
"tcsh" in *shell*.   I can run cygwin stuff ok,
but not in complicated unix-like commands; it works
for me only if I do it one thing at a time, via
simple commands.

Question: is there a way to run complex command-lines
in *shell*?

If so, how?


thanks!

David