Running Commands
Every shell has a prompt at which you can type commands. Often the prompt character is $ for a normal user and # for an administrator, but it’s also common to see %, >, and virtually any other character.
Prompts also commonly include information about the environment: what directory you’re in, the name of the user your session is running under, or even things like the status of version control repositories or the battery status of your laptop.
When you open a new terminal window, you should see your prompt. It’s likely to look something like this:
| | user@computer:~ $ |
A cursor should be flashing just after the dollar sign, inviting you to type. If you type a single command and hit the Enter key, the shell will run that command ...
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