What is a terminal and how do I open and use it?

What is it:

The terminal is an interface in which you can type and execute text based commands.

terminal screenshot

Why use it:

It can be much faster to complete some tasks using a Terminal than with graphical applications and menus. Another benefit is allowing access to many more commands and scripts.

A common terminal task of installing an application can be achieved within a single command, compared to navigating through the Software Centre or Synaptic Manager.

For example the following would install Deluge bittorrent client:

sudo apt-get install deluge

To save a detailed list of files in the current directory tree to a file called listing.txt:

find -type f > listing.txt

Sometimes you will also see the following notation:

$ whoami
calum
$ ls
Downloads  Documents

This means that the command whoami is executed which gives calum as output. Following that command, ls is executed which outputs Downloads Documents.

A similar notation is:

# apt-get update

This means that the command should be run as root, that is, using sudo:

$ sudo apt-get update

Note that the # character is also used for comments.

# this command will give your username
whoami
# the next command will show the contents of the current directory
ls

How do I open a terminal:

  • Open the Dash (Super Key) or Applications and type terminal

    enter image description here

  • Use the keyboard shortcut by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T.

  • For older or Ubuntu versions: (More Info)

    Applications → Accessories → Terminal

Alternative names for the terminal:

  • Console
  • Shell
  • Command line
  • Command prompt

(Although technically they mean different things)

Common commands & Further information

  • Ubuntu Documentation: Using The Terminal

A Terminal is your interface to the underlying operating system via a shell, usually bash. It is a command line.

Back in the day, a Terminal was a screen+keyboard that was connected to a server. Today, it is usally just a progam.

You can open it via the utilities part of the apllications menu, or press Alt+F2 and type gnome-terminal.


The terminal (also known as console) is an application in which you can execute commands directly. It looks like:

gnome-terminal screenshot

You can start the terminal from Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal.
If you're not using Gnome, but KDE (Kubuntu), you would find it under: Kickoff menu -> Applications -> System -> Konsole.

The Ubuntu wiki has an article about the terminal which includes information on starting the terminal in Xubuntu and Lubuntu, and a basic overview of commonly used commands. It's recommended for reading as it includes much examples as well.

Tags:

Command Line

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