Whenever I type the name of an application to open it, the application opens, but after opening it, the terminal seems to be busy with a process so that it doesn't give me the prompt for the next command (I mean following the $ sign). Then I can't type any more command in the terminal and I have to exit it pressing the close button (at the top left) which in turn kills the process. Please note that I am using precise pangolin & this problem seems to be pertaining to all the processes.
1 Answer
Try adding a &
after the name of the app, e.g.:
firefox &
-
Thanks a lot. It worked. But what's the significance of the ampersand? What exactly the terminal expects after opening the application unless I enter &?– DellaAug 10, 2012 at 6:47
-
Not exactly sure but if you ever want to launch an app without all the other text you can use
alt + f2
– alme1304Aug 10, 2012 at 11:37 -
2@TrailRider That is not correct. An
&
at the end of a command makes it run as a background job.&
and&&
are different operators. Furthermore,command1 && command2
will not always runcommand2
. The right hand side of an&&
expression only runs if the left hand side of the expression terminated indicating success. Aug 11, 2012 at 21:56