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

Question

• What is a terminal?
• How do I open a terminal window?
• How do I use the terminal?

Answer 1

What is it:

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

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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

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How do I open a terminal:

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

  

• Use the keyboard shortcut by pressing CtrlAlt+T.

• For older or Ubuntu versions: (More Info)

  Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal

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Alternative names for the terminal:

• Console
• Shell
• Command Line
• Command Prompt

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Common commands & Further information

• Ubuntu Documentation: Using The Terminal

Answer 2

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

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.

Answer 3

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.