Meanwhile, the option modifies the way a program executes, and the argument represents an object influenced by the command. The program is the action assigned to a specific command. The Mac OS prompt ends in a $ symbol and gives the information about the current working directory and the hostname.Ī typical Terminal command has three core elements: the program, the option, and the argument.

Command prompt is a character or sequence of characters indicating that the console is ready to accept further commands.

Command line is the line in the console used to type in the commands.

The console is geared to process and run the entered commands.

System console is the environment consisting of the command line itself and the command output.Terminal, also known as a command-line interface, is an emulator that has no graphical user interface and works as a minimalist text editor.The first-time command-line users may get confused with the Terminal related terms, so some of them need clarification: To abort the command, use the Command-C key combination. Since the Terminal command-line environment is a text editor, one needs to type in specific text commands and press the Enter (Return) key. Alternatively, you can launch the Terminal app directly from Launchpad. The Terminal app icon sits in the Utilities folder, so finding it is extremely easy. If you have no clue about how to run the Terminal app, go to Finder → Applications → Utilities. Things You Should Know about Apple Terminal Tricks Knowing the Mac Terminal commands is essential to doing everything right. However, using the hidden features of Apple's operating system is impossible without running the Terminal app. Knowing your way around Mac OS can help you resolve typical user issues with a standard system toolkit. With its help, Mac users don't have to bother running the command-line interface environment in most cases. One can't but agree that Mac OS has a stunning graphical user interface (GUI), which is also quite functional.

Mac terminal program