diff --git a/examples/main/main.cpp b/examples/main/main.cpp
index ba153cb82dcf6..f61a2ea4b21ee 100644
--- a/examples/main/main.cpp
+++ b/examples/main/main.cpp
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #include <iostream>
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
+#include <sstream>
 
 #if defined (__unix__) || (defined (__APPLE__) && defined (__MACH__))
 #include <signal.h>
@@ -26,6 +27,9 @@
 static console_state con_st;
 
 static bool is_interacting = false;
+static bool is_command = false;
+
+llama_context * ctx;
 
 #if defined (__unix__) || (defined (__APPLE__) && defined (__MACH__)) || defined (_WIN32)
 void sigint_handler(int signo) {
@@ -33,6 +37,8 @@ void sigint_handler(int signo) {
     printf("\n"); // this also force flush stdout.
     if (signo == SIGINT) {
         if (!is_interacting) {
+            llama_print_timings(ctx);
+            llama_free(ctx);
             is_interacting=true;
         } else {
             _exit(130);
@@ -41,6 +47,54 @@ void sigint_handler(int signo) {
 }
 #endif
 
+int command(std::string buffer, gpt_params &params, const int n_ctx ) {
+    // check buffer's first 3 chars equal '???' to enter command mode. 
+    if (buffer.length() <= 3 || strncmp(buffer.c_str(), "???", 3) != 0) return 0;
+    set_console_color(con_st, CONSOLE_COLOR_DEFAULT);
+    std::istringstream command(buffer);
+    int j = 0; std::string test, arg, cmd;
+    while (command>>test) {
+        j++;
+        if ( j == 2 ) arg = test;
+        if ( j == 3 ) cmd = test;
+    }
+    if (cmd == "") {
+        printf("Please enter a command value.\n");
+        return 1;
+    }
+    if (arg == "n_predict") {
+        params.n_predict = std::stoi(cmd);
+    } else if (arg == "top_k") {
+        params.top_k = std::stoi(cmd);
+    } else if (arg == "ctx_size") {
+        params.n_ctx = std::stoi(cmd);
+    } else if (arg == "top_p") {
+        params.top_p = std::stof(cmd);
+    } else if (arg == "temp") {
+        params.temp = std::stof(cmd);
+    } else if (arg == "repeat_last_n") {
+        params.repeat_last_n = std::stoi(cmd);
+    } else if (arg == "repeat_penalty") {
+        params.repeat_penalty = std::stof(cmd);
+    } else if (arg == "batch_size") {
+        params.n_batch = std::stoi(cmd);
+        params.n_batch = std::min(512, params.n_batch);
+    } else if (arg == "reverse-prompt") {
+        params.antiprompt.push_back(cmd);
+    } else if (arg == "keep") {
+        params.n_keep = std::stoi(cmd);
+    } else if (arg == "stats") {
+        llama_print_timings(ctx);
+    } else {
+        printf("Invalid command: %s\nValid options are:\n      n_predict, top_k, ctx_size, top_p, temp, repeat_last_n, repeat_penalty, batch_size, reverse-prompt, keep, stats\n", arg.c_str());
+        return 1;
+    }
+    printf("sampling: temp = %f, top_k = %d, top_p = %f, repeat_last_n = %i, repeat_penalty = %f\n",
+        params.temp, params.top_k, params.top_p, params.repeat_last_n, params.repeat_penalty);
+    printf("generate: n_ctx = %d, n_batch = %d, n_predict = %d, n_keep = %d\n", n_ctx, params.n_batch, params.n_predict, params.n_keep);
+    return 1;
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
     gpt_params params;
     params.model = "models/llama-7B/ggml-model.bin";
@@ -92,8 +146,6 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 //    params.prompt = R"(// this function checks if the number n is prime
 //bool is_prime(int n) {)";
 
-    llama_context * ctx;
-
     // load the model
     {
         auto lparams = llama_context_default_params();
@@ -336,6 +388,8 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
         // display text
         if (!input_noecho) {
+            // if a command was entered clear the output to stop printing of gibberish.
+            if (is_command == true) embd.clear();
             for (auto id : embd) {
                 printf("%s", llama_token_to_str(ctx, id));
             }
@@ -419,7 +473,14 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
                 // Add tokens to embd only if the input buffer is non-empty
                 // Entering a empty line lets the user pass control back
                 if (buffer.length() > 1) {
-
+                    //check for commands
+                    if (command(buffer, params, n_ctx) == 0) {
+                        // this is not a command, run normally.
+                        is_command = false;
+                    } else {
+                        // this was a command, so we need to stop anything more from printing. 
+                        is_command = true;
+                    }
                     // instruct mode: insert instruction prefix
                     if (params.instruct && !is_antiprompt) {
                         n_consumed = embd_inp.size();