command line

[kə′mand ‚līn]

(computer science)

On a display screen, the space following a prompt (such as $) where a text instruction to a computer or device is typed.

command line

A text-based user interface to the computer. The command line is a blank line and cursor on the screen, allowing the user to type in instructions for immediate execution. All major operating systems (Windows, Mac, Unix, Linux, etc.) support command lines that programmers and power users can employ to perform file management operations directly and often more efficiently than by using a graphical user interface (GUI). After typing a command, it is executed by pressing the Enter key.

Windows Examples
There are numerous Windows commands in this encyclopedia, and two examples follow. To do these operations in Windows Explorer or a Windows-based Pkzip utility would take numerous mouse clicks. See Windows commands.

Command             Operation Performedcopy *.html d:\abc  Copy HTML files to
                     ABC folder in D drive

 pkzip xyz *.jpg     Compress all JPEG
                     files into the Zip
                     archive XYZ.ZIP.

Interactive or Sequential
Commands can be executed one at a time by typing the command and pressing Enter. They can also be executed as a group, in which case the commands are typed into a "batch" or "script" file. The file name is typed on the command line, and pressing Enter causes each command to be executed in order. See batch file abc's, cmd abc's, command processor and PowerShell.

Windows Command Line

After the command prompt was launched, the command cd /stage switches focus to the STAGE folder. The dir *.cmd lists all the Windows batch files, and prepnew executes the commands in the prepNEW.cmd file.

Mac/Unix/Linux Command Line

This example from macOS, which is a Unix-based operating system, shows two commands issued after the command line ("terminal window") was launched. The cd desktop switches focus to the desktop, and ls X* lists all files that begin with upper case "X."

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References in periodicals archive

With the command line, the administrator can write a script in PowerShell to run though all of those steps automatically and that script can run against multiple machines.

Windows Server 2012 embraces the data centre

The software runs on most computer platforms, whether graphical or command line. It can import and export a variety of network analyzer file formats.

Analyzing BACnet[R]

With this release of PGP Command Line, organizations now have the flexibility to protect data wherever it is created or stored on mainframes, eliminating the need to move unencrypted data in order to have it encrypted on another system.

PGP COMMAND LINE RUNS NATIVELY ON IBM ZSERIES MAINFRAMES

Several new command line options have also been added to make WinRAR in the command line mode more user friendly.

WINRAR 3.60 FINAL VERSION RELEASED

With PGP Command Line, the company says, customers can quickly integrate encryption into existing mainframe applications to help secure customer, partner, employee and other confidential data.

PGP Corp

"At last, to the relief of administrators and power users everywhere, the command line is truly becoming a first-class citizen in the world of Windows system management," remarks Andy Oakley, lead program manager at Microsoft and author of 'Monad' (O'Reilly).

'Monad'

The WebSparX software also supports a Command Line Interface (CLI) for automatic script configurations in more demanding Service Provider Applications.

Vitesse accelerates gigabit Ethernet time-to-market with WebSparX software stack

Based on Gigabit Ethernet, the Extreme Networks solution delivers a simplified approach to network management and administration, including the ability to perform either web-based or command line administration.

SMU's Cox School of Business looks to the future with extreme networks

It also implements a GUI (graphical user interface) to relieve the experienced user of running many command line functions as well as assisting the new user who may not understand all of the command line functions yet.

Client-server data acquisition controller

Users who choose to access the Unix operating system directly on Mac OS X will benefit from the availability of a command line version of Sophos Anti-Virus, allowing administrators to run it through the Mac Terminal utility.

MAC OS X users safe from virus attack

Nokia IPSO 3.8 also provides administrator tools to manage Nokia IP security platforms through a choice of web-based Nokia Network Voyager interface or comprehensive Command Line Interface (CLI), the company added.

Nokia announces new IPSO operating system