RenoGeek's Computer Terms Glossary - Command Prompt

The command prompt is a text based user interface, such as a terminal in Unix or a DOS shell in Windows. By default it prompts the user for a command which is typed out by the user.

The command prompt is very useful when a user wishes to have more control over the system they are using as it can act as the gateway to many commands not found in many O/S's GUI. There are many commands that a user can type, which can be used to list, move, delete or copy files and run programs or perform other operations like system maintenance.

While Dos, Windows, Unix and even OS X have command prompts, the commands have different syntax from O/S to O/S. As a command prompt requires very specific input, it is useless if you don't know the syntax of the commands you wish to enter. Therefore, knowledge of some the commands is required to use this interface and today it is more the domain of advanced users.

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