Hi, Terminal

Most Linux systems are preinstalled with at least a shell and a terminal.

If you are using Gnome or KDE, search the ‘terminal’ app. On i3, sway, and hyprland, use mod+enter to open the default terminal. (mod key is likely windows or alt key).

The shell runs in the terminal, which shall look like this:

[hostname@username ]$ 

This is the shell prompt. Commands entered are shown after the prompt and are executed after pressing Enter.

All prompt are abbreviated to a single $ hereafter.

Try hello world:

$ echo "Hello, World!" # echo displays a line of text
Hello World!  # texts after hashtap signs are ignored

Although bash is the most widely-used shell, your default shell may not be bash. Check your default shell with:

$ echo $SHELL  # $SHELL is a bash variable
/bin/bash  # your default shell is bash

You can temporarily enter the bash shell with the command bash:

You can change the default shell with chsh.

$ chsh -s /bin/bash  # will prompt you to enter password.

Effect will take place after next log in (or just reboot).

Terminal Keyboard Shortcuts

Terminals has some idiosyncratic shortcuts. Significantly, Ctrl + C is not copy, but terminate the current command. Copy and paste in terminal are Ctrl + Shift + C and Ctrl + Shift + V, respectively.

Here are commonly used shortcuts implemented in most terminals:

These are some less common shortcuts:

For full reference of terminal shortcuts, see Appendix and fly on command line.