Have you ever heard of the Windows Command Prompt? Or Apple’s Mac Terminal? This article will help you understand what they are – and what you can do with them.

A step back in time

In the early days of computing, you had to tell your computer exactly what you wanted it to. If you wanted to move a file, you had to type a specific command. Restarting the computer had a special instruction. In fact, everything had its own command that had to be typed.

As computers became more complex the list of commands was simply too long to remember. Using a computer was very slow – and required a high degree of training.

Eventually this challenge was solved through the development of graphical user interfaces – GUIs. Operating systems like Microsoft Windows and IBM OS/2 were game changers, allowing people to point-and-click or drag-and-drop files. There was no need to memorize text-based commands.

Now all consumer-grade operating systems use GUIs to simplify operations.

What happened to the command line?

The clever thing about GUIs is that they automatically convert our actions into commands that the operating system understand. Behind the scenes, your computer is still executing a bunch of commands in pretty much the same way they always have.

And surprisingly, you can still enter commands the old-fashioned way. On Microsoft Windows, you can find a tool called ‘Command Line’. Apple Mac computers have an equivalent called ‘Terminal’. Start either app and they will both display an intimidating flashing cursor – and very little else.

How does Terminal work?

Here’s a really basic example of a single command you can try without causing any damage. Whenever you open Windows Explorer or Apple’s Finder app and you will see a list of files and folders. 

And you can do the same using the command line too.

On Windows, open Command Prompt and type dir. When you press Enter, you will see a long list of files and folders printed to screen.

An Apple Mac computer does exactly the same thing. Open the Terminal app, type ls and hit Enter. 

This is just a simple example of what can be done. The command line is an incredibly powerful tool and there are many more practical – and potentially risky – functions available to expert users. Virtually anything you can change in your OS via the GUI can also be changed via the command line if you know what you are doing.

Read also: Apple released iOS 18, check out the new features

Which is better, Terminal or Command Prompt?

Trick question! Command Prompt is only available on Windows and Terminal is only available on Mac. So your choice is limited by the operating system used by your computer.

Fortunately, it is very rare to have to use the command line any more. However, if you would like to know more, or simply take a look at what is possible, these guides will help:

One final tip before you start: Make sure you have an up-to-date backup, just in case something goes wrong!