The shell and the prompt
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The prompt
- When the terminal is ready, it shows a prompt and waits:
student@linux:~$
- That tells you who you are (
student), the computer (linux), and the folder you are in (~, your home). - You type a command after the
$, press Enter, and the computer runs it.
Where am I?
- The command
pwdprints your current folder — your "you are here" on the map:
pwd
- Press the ▶ on that example to try it. (
~is short for your home folder,/home/student.)
Make the computer talk
echosimply prints back what you type. It is the classic first command:
echo Hello from the shell
- Run it, then try the two tasks below.
The prompt is waiting for a command. Type pwd (print working directory) to see which folder you are in, then click Run.
Click Run to see the output here.
echo prints back whatever you give it. Use it to print the word hello.
Click Run to see the output here.