Introduction to the Command Line or Terminal.

The Command Line or Terminal

If you want to make use of the advances in front-end development you need to be able to work with the Command Line (Windows) or the Terminal (Mac or *nix machines). This tutorial will show you how easy that is. We’ll start with how to open the Command Line/Terminal and then move on to the most often used commands you need to know. Below you see an image of the Windows Command Line.

Although this tutorial is written based on working with the Command Line in Windows 7 most of it will apply to other Windows versions and to the Terminal as well. However these are links with introductions to the terminal specific for:

• users of a Mac: Introduction to the Mac Terminal.
• users of a Unix machine: Unix tutorial about the Terminal (scroll down to “Starting an Unix terminal”)

How to start/open the Command Line

You can open/start the Command Line in Windows in several ways. I’ll explain those options here and afterwards you just work with the option that you prefer.

Method 1: cmd

• Click on Windows Start
• Type cmd in the search box
• press Enter

Method 2: Command Prompt

• Click on Windows Start
• Choose “All Programs”
• Look for “Accessories” and open it
• click “Command Prompt”. It might be a good idea to right-click on “Command Prompt” – when you open “Accessories” and choose “Pin to Taskbar” and/or “Pin to Start Menu”. This will allow you to open the Command Line directly on later occasions)

How to open the Command Line might vary slightly with different Windows versions. Click on this link for an explanation about how to open the command line for each Windows version.

Useful commands

I have made a selection of commands that come in useful while working with the Windows Command Line:

CommandWhat does it do?

To execute any of these commands you always press Enter after inserting a command.