Inside the window is the prompt, in this case configured to display the name of the machine ( Mercury), the name of the current working directory (here the tilde, ~, which is shorthand for the user’s home directory), the name of the user, and finally the prompt symbol (the $). At the top of the window we see the type of shell, in this case Bash (Bourne Again Shell, which is the default shell in MacOS and most Linux distributions), and the size of the window. This screen, from MacOS 10.11, is typical of most shells in a GUI. When you launch it, you'll see something like this: IDG In MacOS, you’ll find the terminal in Applications > Utilities > Terminal. Often Unix distributions put this under the Administration or System menus. The options and output vary slightly, but you should have no trouble making sense of them.įirst, you must open a shell, sometimes called a terminal window. The commands we walk through below will work on any Unix-like system, including Linux, Darwin (the foundation of MacOS), FreeBSD, and even Windows with something like Git Bash or the new Bash shell in Windows 10. The Unix command line shell is roughly equivalent to the command window in Microsoft Windows (cmd or PowerShell). Before long those cryptic strings will be second nature. They aren't that difficult to learn, and this article will give you the 10 essential commands you need to get started. ĭon't worry if Unix commands seem like magical incantations or the mysterious internals of the system seem beyond your grasp. If you long to break free of the constraints of the GUI or think that programming or administering remote machines is in your future, then learning the Unix command line is definitely for you. The command line is a window into the full, awesome power of your computer. But if you need to repeat that task many times, the command line is your savior. Point-and-click is wonderful whenever you need to do something once or twice. But if you’re a Mac or Linux user and you want to get the most out of your operating system (and your keystrokes), you owe it to yourself to get acquainted with the Unix command line. GUIs are great-we wouldn’t want to live without them.
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