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What is a terminal and how do I open and use it?
How do I access the Terminal?

I just got ubuntu running on my computer and now I am ready to write a program...but I can't figure out how to open a command terminal. I guess I don't know where to find which version I am running either. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

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Amazingly, I don't think this is a duplicate question. Wow – Jacob Johan Edwards Sep 3 '12 at 23:16
I was using a different version last week that had a nice little icon on the top of the screen that just launched it. – hydro Sep 3 '12 at 23:19
@Mik Hm, I think closing that one was a mistake. "What is a terminal" and "How to open a terminal" are two separate questions. – Jacob Johan Edwards Sep 3 '12 at 23:21
@JacobJohanEdwards But the answers there do explain how to open a Terminal...and it would be strange for an answer to that question on Ask Ubuntu not to explain how to open/access terminals in Ubuntu. Plus, "How do I open a terminal window?" is explicitly part of the master question. – Eliah Kagan Sep 3 '12 at 23:54
@EliahKagan Yes, but that is against the principals of Q&A. Questions should not be a FAQ. It does not follow that the questions "What is X" and "Where is X" should be consolidated. – Jacob Johan Edwards Sep 4 '12 at 0:54
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marked as duplicate by RolandiXor♦, Eliah Kagan, jokerdino♦, Mitch, izx Sep 4 '12 at 10:25

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

2 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

You can either:

  • Open the Dash by clicking the Ubuntu icon in the upper-left, type "terminal", and select the Terminal application from the results that appear.
  • Hit the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Alt+T.
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Thank you! Successful. – hydro Sep 3 '12 at 23:21
up vote 8 down vote

There are a couple of methods:

  • If you're running Unity: open the dash, type terminal, hit Return.
  • If you're on the old style menus, Applications → Accessories → Terminal.
  • Control + Alt + T.
  • Alt + F2, gnome-terminal, Return.
  • For a TTY: Control + Alt + F1..7.

If you're using Ubuntu variants, you might need to substitute gnome-terminal for xfce4-terminal, konsole or if you've gone off-piste, terminator (my fav) or if you're running out of options, xterm. There are others — many, many others — but I doubt you'll ever find them on a *buntu default install.

The TTYs are your last, best hope if you desperately need some form of terminal. Just be aware that they're not conscious of the graphical environment so if you want to launch something graphical from one, you'll need to run export DISPLAY=:0 first. Or adapt that if you're running more than one X display.

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I guess I am using Unity because it worked. Thank you! – hydro Sep 3 '12 at 23:20

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