A terminal is a text input and output environment. It is a program that acts as a wrapper and allows us to enter commands that the computer processes. Here we are going to discuss how to open terminal in different os.

Open the Terminal (Linux)

On a Ubuntu 18.04 system you can find a launcher for the terminal by clicking on the Activities item at the top left of the screen, then typing the first few letters of “terminal”, “command”, “prompt” or “shell”.

If you can’t find a launcher, or if you just want a faster way to bring up the terminal, most Linux systems use the same default keyboard shortcut to start it: Ctrl-Alt-T.

However you launch your terminal, you should end up with somewhat similar looking window probably with different look and feel depending on your Linux.

Open the Terminal (MacOS)

You can open terminal in MacOS in different ways. We can use spotlight search or from launchpad or from Applications Folder

How to Open Terminal Using Spotlight Search

Perhaps the easiest and quickest way to open Terminal is through Spotlight Search. To launch Spotlight, click the small magnifying glass icon in your menu bar (or press Command+Space).

When the Spotlight Search bar pops up on your screen, type “terminal.app” and hit Return. Or you can click the Terminal.app icon that appears.

Terminal will launch, and you’ll be ready to go.

How to Open Terminal from Launchpad

You can also open Terminal quickly from Launchpad. If you have Launchpad in your dock, click the rocket ship icon or press “F4” on your keyboard to launch it.

When Launchpad opens, type “Terminal” and hit return. Or you can click the “Terminal” icon.

The Terminal app will open.

How to Open Terminal from Your Applications Folder

If you’d prefer to go launch Terminal from the program icon in Finder, you’ll usually find it located in the /Applications/Utilities folder. This is its default location on fresh installations of macOS.

To open Terminal from your Applications folder, click your desktop to bring Finder into focus. In the menu bar, click “Go” and select “Applications.”

Your Applications folder will open. Scroll through until you find the “Utilities” folder. Double-click the “Utilities” folder to open it. Inside, you will find Terminal.

Double-click the Terminal.app icon and the Terminal will open.

Open the Command Prompt

The **Command Prompt**, officially called the Windows Command Processor and often abbreviated to CMD, is the command line interface for Windows operating systems. A command line interface is a way of interacting with a computer directly using text commands.

First, click the Start Menu button in the lower-left corner to open the start menu.

Scroll down to “Windows System” and click that to open a dropdown of different Windows programs. Then click “Command Prompt”:

How to open Command Prompt with the search bar

One of the fastest ways to open Command Prompt is by using the search bar in the Windows Taskbar.

Just type “cmd” into the search bar and click on “Command Prompt”:

How to open Command Prompt from the Run program

Windows 10 has another program called Run that lets you, well, run other programs. You can also do things like open folders and files, but that’s outside the scope of this tutorial.

To open Run, you can open the Start Menu and find it under “Windows System”. You could also type “run” in the search box and find it that way.

But the fastest way to open Run is with the shortcut Windows Key + R.

Then, once the Run window is open, just type in “cmd” and press “OK” to open Command Prompt:

How to Open Command Prompt in a Folder

In many cases, you wish not to write the folder directory in command prompt rather open the command prompt in a folder with the path of a particular project or repository.

First, open the folder.

Click on the address bar

Make sure, it’s highlighted, then write **cmd** and hit enter on keyboard.

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Open the Terminal (Linux/MacOS) or Command prompt (Windows)