MODE

Configure a system device: COM / LPT port, or CMD console CON.

Syntax
   Serial port:
      MODE COMm[:] [BAUD=b] [PARITY=p] [DATA=d] [STOP=s]
                                [to=on|off] [xon=on|off] [odsr=on|off]
                                [octs=on|off] [dtr=on|off|hs]
                                [rts=on|off|hs|tg] [idsr=on|off]
   Device Status:
      MODE [device] [/STATUS]

   Redirect printing:
      MODE LPTn[:]=COMm[:]

   Select code page:
      MODE CON[:] CP SELECT=yyy

   Code page status:
      MODE CON[:] CP [/STATUS]

   Display size/buffer - number of columns wide and number of lines deep:
      MODE CON[:] [COLS=c] [LINES=n]

   undocumented) abbreviated version of the above:
      MODE Cols, Lines

   Typematic rate:
      MODE CON[:] [RATE=r DELAY=d]

Used without parameters, MODE displays the status of all devices installed on your system
(COM1, COM2, LPT1, CON) this output is language/locale specific.

C:\> MODE
Status for device CON:
----------------------
    Lines:        240
    Columns:       80
    Keyboard Rate: 31
    Keyboard delay: 1
    Code Page:    850  

Mode lines will set both the height/width of the console window and the screen buffer.

Mode can be used to set the display window to be larger than the monitor width and/or height, in this case the CMD window size will be restricted to the display size but a scroll bar will appear. If the display window is made very large (many times the size of a typical display), the memory used by conhost.exe will increase, in extreme cases to over 1 GB.

In PowerShell the height and buffer size can be set independently, but this requires a script.

Show the status of a specific device:
MODE [device]

To additionally show the status of any redirected parallel printer:
MODE [device] [/STATUS]

Keyboard

Typematic rate is the rate at which a character is repeated when you hold down a key.
MODE CON[:] [RATE=r DELAY=d]

Printing

To redirect output from a parallel port (PRN, LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3) to a serial port(COM1, COM2, COM3, etc).
You must be a member of the Administrators group to redirect printing.

To configure a parallel printer port (PRN, LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3):
MODE LPTn[:]=COMm[:]

To setup the parameters for a serial port.
MODE COMm [options*]

Configure a printer connected to a parallel printer port.
mode LPTn[:] [c][,[l][,r]]
mode LPTn[:] [cols=c] [lines=l]
This allows you to configure a line printer connected to a parallel printer port.

Window Border size

The border size (for all windows) can be set in the registry or with REG, the defaults are -15 for BorderWidth and -60 for PaddedBorderWidth

@echo off
Echo Display the current border
REG QUERY "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics" /v BorderWidth
REG QUERY "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics" /v PaddedBorderWidth

Echo Set the border to 12 with 0 padding
REG ADD "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics" /v BorderWidth /d -12 /f
REG ADD "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics" /v PaddedBorderWidth /d 0 /f

Logoff and login again to see the new border. (also see PowerShell script for setting the border + color/spacing.)

International Settings

Change the current code page:
MODE CON[:] CP SELECT=yyy

Display the current Code page:
MODE CON[:] CP [/STATUS]

Examples:

MODE CON:cols=80 lines=25

MODE 80, 50

“The dogma of the ghost in the machine” ~ Gilbert Ryle

Related:

NET - manage network resources.
CHCP - Display or change device settings.
Equivalent bash command (Linux): screen - Terminal window manager.