Getting started

The prompt

When you first open the shell, you’ll see the prompt, indicating that the shell is waiting for input.

The prompt usually has some information about the system (e.g. your username, or the name of your computer), followed by a $. In the examples for this workshop, we’ll show the prompt as $:

$

If your prompt looks different (it might not have a $), don’t worry. The Prompt is customizable and appears differently on different systems.

Warning

When following the examples, do not type the prompt when typing commands. Only type the command that follows the prompt.

To execute a command, type it into the prompt and press Enter. When the command completes you be returned to the prompt.

Our first command

Let’s try typing our first command. Type whoami at the prompt, and press enter:

$ whoami

The whoami command output your username. The shell will print your username, then return you to the prompt, where you can type another command:

$ whoami
jjp366
$

Warning

The shell is case-sensitive and typo-sensitive; commands need to be entered exactly as shown. It’s important to use the right case (upper or lower), to use spaces when needed, and not to use spaces when not needed. For example, if you type whoam instead of whoami, you will get an error:

$ whoam
bash: whoam: command not found

Don’t stress out about these sorts of errors. Nothing will break as a result of them, and it’s normal to get lots of errors like this when learning the shell for the first time.