60

Is it possible to do this? For example if I run "gedit tifatul.txt" via the command line, my terminal becomes blocked and I can't enter other command in this terminal before I quit gedit. Can I start a program (like gedit) without blocking the terminal? In windows I think this can be done like "start notepad tifatul.txt"

2
  • What do you mean by blocked.
    – user108056
    Apr 28, 2013 at 15:32
  • @PedroDiniz meaning I can't type another command to the terminal while gedit is running. If you have windows, try the difference between running notepad (blocked) and start notepad (not blocked)
    – TifatulS
    Apr 28, 2013 at 15:33

2 Answers 2

80

Just add & at the end of the command. This makes the new process to run in background and you can continue using your terminal. For example: gedit new_file.txt &

8
  • By the way, do you know any documentation regarding this behaviour? Is it only for gedit?
    – TifatulS
    Apr 28, 2013 at 15:38
  • 1
    This feature of background process is provided by the shell, so it is not working only for gedit but for any command you run on shell. Apr 28, 2013 at 15:53
  • yeah, thanks for the answer. I was gonna accept but the system requires me to wait another couple of minutes
    – TifatulS
    Apr 28, 2013 at 16:01
  • Accepted and upvoted :) By the way what is this feature called?
    – TifatulS
    Apr 28, 2013 at 16:03
  • 1
    Please add the warning of what happens if you close your terminal. Apr 3, 2021 at 18:52
26

I would like to recommend you nohup gedit filename &. Simply gedit filename &, you're bearing the risk to accidentally close the terminal and lose your edit. If you don't like nohup.out being created each time, just redirect the output:

nohup gedit filename > /dev/null &
1

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .