All Topics  
Command line interpreter

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Command line interpreter
 
 
  Topics Command line interpreter Topic Home

A command-line interpreter (also command line shell
Shell (computing)

In computing, a shell is a piece of software that provides an Interface for users. Typically, the term refers to an operating system shell which provides access to the services of a kernel ....
, command language interpreter) is a computer program
Computer program

Computer programs are Instruction for a computer. A computer requires programs to function. Moreover, a computer program does not run unless its instructions are executed by a Central processing unit; however, a program may communicate an Algorithm#Formalization of algorithms to people without running....
 that reads lines of text entered by a user and interprets them in the context of a given operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
 or programming language
Programming language

A programming language is a machine-readable artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer....
.

and-line interpreters allow users to issue various commands in a very efficient (and often terse) way.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Command line interpreter'
Start a new discussion about 'Command line interpreter'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Bash Screenshot
Windows 2000 Recovery Console
A command-line interpreter (also command line shell
Shell (computing)

In computing, a shell is a piece of software that provides an Interface for users. Typically, the term refers to an operating system shell which provides access to the services of a kernel ....
, command language interpreter) is a computer program
Computer program

Computer programs are Instruction for a computer. A computer requires programs to function. Moreover, a computer program does not run unless its instructions are executed by a Central processing unit; however, a program may communicate an Algorithm#Formalization of algorithms to people without running....
 that reads lines of text entered by a user and interprets them in the context of a given operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
 or programming language
Programming language

A programming language is a machine-readable artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer....
.

Command-line interpreters as user interfaces

Command-line interpreters allow users to issue various commands in a very efficient (and often terse) way. This requires the user to know the names of the commands and their parameters, and the syntax of the language
Programming language

A programming language is a machine-readable artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer....
 that is interpreted. From the 1960s onwards, user interaction with computers was primarily by means of command-line interfaces.

In the 1970s, researchers began to develop graphical user interface
Graphical user interface

A graphical user interface is a type of user interface which allows people to human-computer interaction such as computers; hand-held devices such as MP3 Players, Portable Media Players or Gaming devices; household appliances and office equipment....
s (GUIs) to provide an alternative user interface for computers, whereby commands were represented by pictorial operations, rather than as textual descriptions. Since they are easier to learn than command line interfaces, they have become the most common way of interacting with a computer. However, command-line interpreters remain widely used in conjunction with GUIs. For some complex tasks, the latter are less effective because of the large number of menus and dialog boxes presented and because of the innate difficulty of representing the underlying task graphically.

Scripting

Most command-line interpreters support scripting, to various extents. (They are, after all, interpreters of an interpreted programming language
Programming language

A programming language is a machine-readable artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer....
, albeit that in many cases the language is unique to the particular command-line interpreter.) They will interpret scripts (variously termed shell script
Shell script

A shell script is a Scripting language written for the Shell , or command line interpreter, of an operating system. It is often considered a simple domain-specific programming language....
s or batch file
Batch file

In DOS, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows, a batch file is a text file containing a series of Command intended to be executed by the Command line interpreter....
s) written in the language
Programming language

A programming language is a machine-readable artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer....
 that they interpret. Some command-line interpreters also incorporate the interpreter engines of other languages, such as REXX
REXX

REXX is an Interpreted language programming language which was developed at IBM. It is a structured high-level programming language which was designed to be both easy to learn and easy to read....
, in addition to their own, allowing the executing of scripts, in those languages, directly within the command-line interpreter itself.

Conversely, scripting programming languages, in particular those with an eval
Eval

In some programming languages, eval is a subroutine which evaluates a string as though it were an expression and returns a result; in others, it executes multiple lines of code as though they had been included instead of the line including the eval....
 function (such as REXX
REXX

REXX is an Interpreted language programming language which was developed at IBM. It is a structured high-level programming language which was designed to be both easy to learn and easy to read....
, Perl
Perl

In computer programming, Perl is a high-level programming language, List of programming languages by category, Interpreter , dynamic programming language....
, Python
Python (programming language)

Python is a general-purpose high-level programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python's core syntax and semantics are Minimalism , while the standard library is large and comprehensive....
, or Jython
Jython

Jython, successor of JPython, is an implementation of the Python written in Java ....
), can be used to implement command-line interpreters. For a few operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
s, most notably DOS
DOS

DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is a shorthand term for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me....
, such a command interpreter provides a more flexible command line interface
Command line interface

A command-line interface is a mechanism for interacting with a computer operating system or software by typing commands to perform specific tasks....
 than the one supplied. In other cases, such a command interpreter can present a highly customised user interface employing the user interface and input/output facilities of the language.

Quotes


Examples

  • 4DOS
    4DOS

    4DOS is a command line interpreter by JP Software, designed to replace the default command interpreter COMMAND.COM in DOS and Windows 95/Windows 98/Windows Me....
     - (DOS
    DOS

    DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is a shorthand term for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me....
    , Windows
    Microsoft Windows

    Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
    )
  • 4NT
    4NT

    4NT is a command line interpreter by JP Software, designed as asubstitute for the default command interpreter in Microsoft Windows. 4NT is based on...
     - (Windows NT
    Windows NT

    Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was originally designed to be a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix....
    )
  • 4OS/2 - (OS/2
    OS/2

    OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "IBM Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal computers....
    )
  • PocketDOS -- an implementation of the MS-DOS 6.22 command-line interpreter which runs on Pocket PC with Windows CE 3.0; most recent package includes PocketDOS shell for the PC under Windows operating systems and the option to switch the DOS shell on the Pocket PC from the default MS-DOS 6.22 emulation to DR-DOS 6, PC-DOS 6, or Free DOS 7
  • Amiga CLI/Amiga Shell - (AmigaOS
    AmigaOS

    AmigaOS is the default native operating system of the Amiga personal computer. It was developed first by Commodore International, and initially introduced in 1985 with the Amiga 1000....
    )
  • CL
    AS/400 Control Language

    The AS/400 Control Language is a scripting language for the IBM IBM System i midrange Platform bearing a resemblance to the IBM Job Control Language and consisting of an ever expanding set of command AS/400 object used to invoke traditional AS/400 programs and/or get help on what those programs do....
     - (OS/400
    OS/400

    IBM i is an operating system used on IBM Power Systems, a unified server platform from the former IBM System i and IBM System p servers. IBM i was formerly known as i5/OS or OS/400....
    )
  • Basic-Plus
    BASIC-PLUS

    BASIC-PLUS was an extended dialect of the BASIC programming language developed by Digital Equipment Corporation for use on its RSTS/E time-sharing operating system for the PDP-11 series of 16-bit minicomputers in the early 1970s through the 1980s....
     - (RSTS/E
    RSTS/E

    RSTS is a multi-user time-sharing operating system, developed by Digital Equipment Corporation , for the PDP-11 series of 16-bit minicomputers....
    )
  • cmd.exe
    Cmd.exe

    cmd.exe is the command line interpreter on OS/2, Windows CE and on Windows NT-based operating systems . It is the analog of COMMAND.COM in MS-DOS and Windows 9x systems, or of the Unix shells used on Unix-like systems....
     - (OS/2
    OS/2

    OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "IBM Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal computers....
    , Windows CE 3.0
    Windows CE 3.0

    Microsoft Windows CE 3.0 is an operating system designed for embedded systems including Personal digital assistant and mobile phones, working within the constraints of the slow processors and reduced amount of memory available on these devices....
    , Windows NT
    Windows NT

    Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was originally designed to be a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix....
     - Windows Vista
    Windows Vista

    Windows Vista is one member in a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business Desktop computer, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs....
    )
  • CMS
    Conversational Monitor System

    The Conversational Monitor System is a relatively simple interactive computing single-user operating system.* CMS is part of IBM's VM , which runs on IBM mainframe computers....
     - (VM/CMS)
  • COMMAND.COM
    COMMAND.COM

    COMMAND.COM is the filename of the default operating system Shell for DOS operating systems and the default command line interpreter on 16/32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows ....
     - (DOS
    DOS

    DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is a shorthand term for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me....
    , Windows 95
    Windows 95

    Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Microsoft Windows products....
     - Windows Vista
    Windows Vista

    Windows Vista is one member in a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business Desktop computer, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs....
    )
  • Commodore
    Commodore International

    Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was a United States electronics company based in West Chester, Pennsylvania which was a vital player in the home computer/personal computer field in the 1980s....
     DOS Wedge
    DOS Wedge

    The DOS Wedge was a popular piece of Commodore 64 system software. Written by Bob Fairbairn, it was included by Commodore International on the Commodore 1541 Test/Demo Disk and also packaged with the Commodore 64 Macro Assembler Development System ....
     - (Commodore 64
    Commodore 64

    The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer released by Commodore International in August, 1982, at a price of United States dollar595. Preceded by the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore MAX Machine, the C64 features 64 kilobytes of Random-access memory with sound and graphics performance that were superior to IBM-compatible computers of tha...
    )
  • DCL
    DIGITAL Command Language

    DCL, the DIGITAL Command Language, is the standard command languageadopted by most of the operating systems that were sold by the former Digital Equipment Corporation ....
     - (OpenVMS
    OpenVMS

    OpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is the name of a high-end computer server operating system that runs on the VAX and DEC Alpha families of computers, developed by Digital Equipment Corporation of Maynard, Massachusetts, Massachusetts , and most recently on Hewlett-Packard systems built around the In...
    )
  • EFI-SHELL
    Extensible Firmware Interface

    The Extensible Firmware Interface is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware. EFI is intended as a significantly improved replacement of the old legacy BIOS firmware interface historically used by all IBM PC compatible personal computers....
     - (Extensible Firmware Interface
    Extensible Firmware Interface

    The Extensible Firmware Interface is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware. EFI is intended as a significantly improved replacement of the old legacy BIOS firmware interface historically used by all IBM PC compatible personal computers....
    )
  • GMLCMD - (Windows
    Microsoft Windows

    Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
    )
  • iSeries QSHELL
    ISeries QSHELL

    iSeries QSHELL is a command line interpreter running on the IBM System i computer platform. Qshell is based on POSIX and X/Open standards. IBM created the Qshell interpreter primarily to provide support for the Java Development Kit on their iSeries line of computers....
     - (IBM
    IBM

    International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
     OS/400
    OS/400

    IBM i is an operating system used on IBM Power Systems, a unified server platform from the former IBM System i and IBM System p servers. IBM i was formerly known as i5/OS or OS/400....
    )
  • SymShell - (SymbOS
    SymbOS

    SymbOS is a free multitasking operating system for Zilog Z80-based 8-bit computer systems. At present it is available for the Amstrad CPC series of computers, as well as for all MSX models starting from the MSX2 standard and for most Amstrad PCW models....
    )
  • TSO
    Time Sharing Option

    In computing, the Time Sharing Option is an interactive time-sharing environment for the lineage of IBM mainframe operating systems running from OS/MVT through MVS and OS/390 to the current z/OS....
     - (MVS
    MVS

    Multiple Virtual Storage, more commonly called MVS, was the most commonly used operating system on the System/370 and System/390 IBM mainframes....
    , z/OS
    Z/OS

    z/OS is a 64-bit operating system for mainframe computers, created by IBM. It is the successor to OS/390, which in turn followed MVS and combined a number of formerly separate, related products....
    )
  • Unix shell
    Unix shell

    A Unix shell is a command-line interpreter and script host that provides a traditional user interface for the Unix operating system and for Unix-like systems....
     programs such as sh
    Bourne shell

    The Bourne shell, or sh, was the default Unix shell of Version 7 Unix, and replaced the Thompson shell, whose executable file had the same name, sh....
    , Bash
    Bash

    Bash is a free software Unix shell written for the GNU Project. Its name is an acronym which stands for Bourne-again shell. The name is a pun on the name of the Bourne shell , an early and important Unix shell written by Stephen Bourne and distributed with Version 7 Unix circa 1978, and the concept of being "Born again Christianity"....
    , ksh
    Korn shell

    The Korn shell is a Unix shell which was developed by David Korn in the early 1980s. It is backwards-compatible with the Bourne shell and includes many features of the C shell as well, such as a command history, which was inspired by the requests of Bell Labs users....
    , csh
    C shell

    The C shell is a Unix shell developed by Bill Joy for the Berkeley Software Distribution Unix system. It was originally derived from the 6th Edition Unix /bin/sh , the predecessor of the Bourne shell....
     and others
  • Tclsh and Wish
    Wish (Windowing Shell)

    wish is an simple scripting or interactive Unix shell for the X Window System. It provides uses the facility to be able to control graphical user interface components via the Tk toolkit, and enables utilization of the Tcl programming language....
    , shells used with the Tcl
    Tcl

    Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration"?according to the author?with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl quickly gained wide acceptance on its own and is generally thought to be easy to learn, but powerful in competent hands....
     language in its various implementations
  • The above Unix shells implemented under other OSes including Windows NT/2000/Xp/2003 OS series and with diminished capabilities under the MS-Dos/Windows 95/98/Me series: MKS Toolkit (Bourne, Bash, Korn, C shells, rsh
    RSH

    RSH may mean:*The NYSE stock symbol for RadioShack*Remote Shell, a UNIX command-line utility for remotely executing commands*Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns, a locomotive manufacturer...
    , tclsh and SSH
    SSH

    SSH may refer to:* Secure Shell, a common network protocol for remote administration of Unix computers* Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, in IATA airport code...
    ), Microsoft Windows Services for Unix (C and Korn shells), AT&T U/Win (all or most shells), Cygwin, etc.
  • Newer Unix shells under various OSes and environments such as the enhanced Korn variant zsh, the Perl-based psh shell etc.
  • Windows PowerShell
    Windows PowerShell

    Windows PowerShell is an extensible command line interface shell and associated scripting language from Microsoft. It was released in 2006 and is currently available for Windows XP SP2/SP3, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and is included in Windows Server 2008 as well as Windows 7 as an optional feature....
     - (Windows XP
    Windows XP

    Windows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptop, and media centers....
     - Windows Vista
    Windows Vista

    Windows Vista is one member in a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business Desktop computer, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs....
    )
  • Windows Recovery Console
    Recovery Console

    The Recovery Console is a feature of the Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. It provides the means for administrators to perform a limited range of tasks using a command line interface....
     - (Windows 2000
    Windows 2000

    Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on business desktops, Laptop, and Server . Released on 17 February, 2000, it was the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the final release of Microsoft Windows to display the "Windows NT" designation....
     - Windows Vista
    Windows Vista

    Windows Vista is one member in a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business Desktop computer, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs....
    )
  • YouShell
    YouOS

    YouOS was a web desktop and web integrated development environment, developed by by WebShaka until June 2008.YouOS replicated the desktop environment of a modern operating system on a webpage, using JavaScript to communicate with the remote Server ....
     - (YouOS
    YouOS

    YouOS was a web desktop and web integrated development environment, developed by by WebShaka until June 2008.YouOS replicated the desktop environment of a modern operating system on a webpage, using JavaScript to communicate with the remote Server ....
    )


See also

  • Shell (computing)
    Shell (computing)

    In computing, a shell is a piece of software that provides an Interface for users. Typically, the term refers to an operating system shell which provides access to the services of a kernel ....
  • Comparison of computer shells
    Comparison of computer shells

    A command shell is a command line interface computer program to an operating system.ReferencesExternal links...
  • Text terminal
  • Command line argument
    Command line argument

    In computer command line interfaces, a command line argument is an Parameter sent to a program being called. In general, a program can take any number of command line arguments, which may be necessary for the program to run, or may even be ignored, depending on the function of that program....
  • Read-eval-print loop
    Read-eval-print loop

    A read-eval-print loop , also known as an interactive toplevel, is a simple, interactive computer programming environment. The term is most usually used to refer to a Lisp programming language interactive environment, but can be applied to command line interface shell and similar environments for Smalltalk, Python , Ruby , Haskell , AP...
  • Batch processing
    Batch processing

    Batch processing is execution of a series of Computer programs on a computer without human interaction.Batch jobs are set up so they can be run to completion without human interaction, so all input data is preselected through Script s or command-line parameters....
  • Batch file
    Batch file

    In DOS, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows, a batch file is a text file containing a series of Command intended to be executed by the Command line interpreter....
  • Shell script
    Shell script

    A shell script is a Scripting language written for the Shell , or command line interpreter, of an operating system. It is often considered a simple domain-specific programming language....
  • Scripting language
    Scripting language

    A scripting language, script language or extension language, is a programming language that allows some control of a single or many Application software....
  • Domain-specific programming language
    Domain-specific programming language

    In software development, a domain-specific language is a programming language or specification language dedicated to a particular problem domain, a particular problem representation technique, and/or a particular solution technique....
  • clig
    Clig

    clig is a *NIX command line utility which uses a simple description file to create C_programming_language to interprete the typical *NIX command line as well as an up-to-date usage-message and a Man_pages skeleton....
     for tcl
    Tcl

    Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration"?according to the author?with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl quickly gained wide acceptance on its own and is generally thought to be easy to learn, but powerful in competent hands....
    /c
    C (programming language)

    C is a general-purpose computer programming language originally developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories to implement the Unix operating system....


External links

  • website — focus on GNU/Linux
  • website — DOS and Windows