Command Line Shell
Shell can be accessed by users using a command line interface. A special program called Terminal in Linux/macOS, or Command Prompt in Windows OS is provided to type in the human-readable commands such as “cat”, “ls” etc. and then it is being executed. The result is then displayed on the terminal to the user. A terminal in Ubuntu 16.4 system looks like this –
linux command line
In the above screenshot “ls” command with “-l” option is executed. It will list all the files in the current working directory in a long listing format.
Working with a command line shell is a bit difficult for beginners because it’s hard to memorize so many commands. It is very powerful; it allows users to store commands in a file and execute them together. This way any repetitive task can be easily automated. These files are usually called batch files in Windows and Shell Scripts in Linux/macOS systems.
Introduction to Linux Shell and Shell Scripting
If we are using any major operating system, we are indirectly interacting with the shell. While running Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or any other Linux distribution, we are interacting with the shell by using the terminal. In this article we will discuss Linux shells and shell scripting so before understanding shell scripting we have to get familiar with the following terminologies:
- Kernel
- Shell
- Terminal
Table of Content
- What is Kernel?
- What is Shell?
- Command Line Shell
- Graphical Shells
- What is a terminal?
- Shell Scripting