command line

A text-based user interface to the computer. The command line is a blank line and cursor on the screen, allowing the user to type in instructions for immediate execution. All major operating systems (Windows, Mac, Unix, Linux, etc.) support command lines that programmers and power users can employ to perform file management operations directly and often more efficiently than by using a graphical user interface (GUI). After typing a command, it is executed by pressing the Enter key.

Windows Examples

There are numerous Windows commands in this encyclopedia, and two examples follow. To do these operations in Windows Explorer or a Windows-based Pkzip utility would take numerous mouse clicks. See Windows commands.

 Command             Operation Performed

 copy *.html d:\abc  Copy HTML files to
                     ABC folder in D drive

 pkzip xyz *.jpg     Compress all JPEG
                     files into the Zip
                     archive XYZ.ZIP.

Interactive or Sequential

Commands can be executed one at a time by typing the command and pressing Enter. They can also be executed as a group, in which case the commands are typed into a "batch" or "script" file. The file name is typed on the command line, and pressing Enter causes each command to be executed in order. See batch file abc's, cmd abc's, command processor and PowerShell.