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Command Line Interface
Overview
The Command Line Interface (CLI) is also known as a shell, console, command prompt or terminal. The first operating systems (like MS-DOS or UNIX) had neither graphical user interfaces (GUI) nor mice. Instead, tasks were performed by entering commands with the keyboard. An interpreter launched the desired application and returned the result on the screen. Sets of tasks could be launched using batch files to speed up a workflow.
Today, the notion of using the computer in this fashion seems outdated to most average users. The highly advanced graphical interfaces of Mac OS X and Windows XP are far easier to learn and use than the command line interface. The tradeoff, however, is that they offer less flexibility. Thus, power users still use the CLI frequently to perform special tasks:
- Monitoring and killing processes
- Remote access via SSH, SFTP, etc.
- Compiling files
- Compressing folders
- Changing system settings
- Running servers or accessing databases
- Managing files
- Troubleshoooting
OS X's aptly-named Terminal application is located in Applications > Utilities. Alternatively, OS X users can also use XTerm, which is part of OS X's X11 package (and will not be discussed further here). XP's Command Prompt application is located in Start > Programs > Accessories (alternatively, you can select Start > Run and type in "cmd"). XP users can also use command.com (which will not be discussed further here).
Settings & Features
The following table outlines the available settings and features of OS X's and XP's CLI offerings:
| Mac OS X | Windows XP | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| User-customizable Settings | |||
| Cursor Size | No | Yes | |
| Cursor Style | Yes | No | |
| Line wrapping | Yes | No | |
| Window size | Yes | Yes | |
| Buffer Size | Yes | Yes | |
| Window title | Yes | Limited | While XP users can type "title" followed by the title they would like their window to be, OS X users can select from a number of dynamic attributes to be appended to their window's title:
|
| Keyboard Shortcuts | Yes | No | While both operating systems have keyboard shortcuts for their terminal window, only OS X allows users to customize those shortcuts. |
| Font | Yes | Limited | XP users can only choose from 2 fonts. OS X users can select any font on their computer for Terminal, and can even control leading (line spacing), kerning (letter spacing), font size, and anti-aliasing. |
| Text Color | Yes | Limited | While XP users can select from as many colors as OS X users, identifying the right colors to use is not as easy in XP's terminal. XP offers RGB numerical input fields to select arbitrary colors. OS X provides its system standard color chooser, which includes a color wheel, multiple sliders (Grayscale, RGB, CMYK, HSB), a tool to grab the color of any pixel on screen, web safe colors, spectrum or any arbitrary image, and even a "box of crayons." Additionally, OS X users can select the color of the cursor in addition to the color of bold text.
OS X also offers 6 "preset" color settings (for both text and background colors) to choose from:
|
| Background Image | Yes | No | OS X's Terminal honors transparent regions within images, and can be combined with overall window transparency. Option-drag an image onto the Terminal window to apply that image as the background image. |
| Background Color | Yes | Limited | Refer to the comments in "Text Color" (above). |
| Background Transparency | Yes | No | |
| Features | |||
| Full screen mode | No | Yes | |
| Contextual menu support | Yes | No | Use "Quick Edit" mode. See Copy and Paste support. |
| Drag and drop support | Yes | Limited | Both operating systems allow you to drag and drop a file onto the terminal window in order to paste the path to that file. OS X additionally allows you to drag and drop text from any application/file/window into Terminal, and even drag and drop text from within the Terminal window itself. Option-drag an image onto the Terminal window to apply that image as the background image. |
| Copy and paste support | Yes | Limited | XP's Command Prompt doesn't support the standard copy and paste keyboard shortcuts. Command.exe has its own proprietary copy/paste method called Quick Edit mode. Select text with the left mouse button or hit Enter to copy text. Click the right mouse button to paste. |
| Server connection bookmarks | Yes | No | |
| Command history | Limited | Limited | On OS X, new Terminal windows remember previous commands. While XP's Command Prompt doesn't do this, it does supply a popup list of previous commands. |
| Split screen | Yes | No | |
| Store and recall multiple "sets" of settings | Yes | No | OS X users can save "Library" files (saved in ~/Application Support/Terminal) and select them from File > Library. Library files can store every aspect of single or multiple Terminal windows, including their locations on the screen, and even what command the window is running. Here's a nice tutorial from MacDevCenter.com. Wooden Brain Concepts offers some downloadable Terminal themes. |
| UTF-8 support | Yes | No | |
| Auto-discovery of local servers | Yes | No | Bonjour auto-discovery of local servers facilitates remote connections. |
| Secure keyboard entry | Yes | No | According to Apple's Help documentation:
"You can set up Terminal to allow secure keyboard entry. This prevents other applications on your computer or the network from detecting and recording what you type in Terminal." |
| Protocols | |||
| FTP | Yes | Yes | |
| SFTP | Yes | No | |
| Telnet | Yes | Yes | |
| SSH | Yes | No | |
CLI Keyboard Shortcuts
| Command | Mac OS X | Windows XP |
|---|---|---|
| Select All |  -A |
|
| Copy | -C |
|
| Paste | -V |
Right-click |
| Paste escaped Text | Ctrl--V |
|
| New Shell | -N |
|
| Delete | Delete Key | Delete Key |
| Beginning of line | Ctrl-A | Home key |
| End of line | Ctrl-E | End Key |
| Quit | -Q |
|
| Forward one character | Right arrow or Ctrl-F | Right arrow |
| Forward one word | Alt-F | Ctrl-right arrow |
| Backward one character | Left arrow or Ctrl-B | Left arrow |
| Backward one word | Alt-B | Ctrl-left arrow |
| Scroll Up | Page Up or ctrl-L | |
| Scroll Down | Page Up | |
| Scroll to Top | Home | |
| Scroll to Bottom | End | |
| Save | -S | |
| Undo | -Z Ctrl-shift-underscore | |
| Clear scrollback | -K | |
| Auto-complete path (directory or file) | Tab | Tab |
| Enter EOF character | Ctrl-D | F6 or Ctrl-Z |
| Clear all macros | Alt-F10 | |
| Cycle backwards through command history | Up Arrow | Up Arrow or F5 |
| Cycle forewards through command history | Down Arrow | Down Arrow |
| Popup list of command history | F7 | |
| Copy the current line up to the letter you input | F2 | |
| Delete up to the character entered (delete characters from previous command) | F4 | |
| Previous command (from current cursor position) | F3 | |
| Previous command, character by character | F1 (or Right Arrow) | |
| Search command history | Ctrl-R | F8 |
| First command in history | Page Up | |
| Last command in history | Page Down | |
| Cancel command (clear current line) | Escape | |
| Clear command history | Alt-F7 | |
| Jump to specific command in history | F9 |
Conclusion
On the whole, OS X's Terminal is more full-featured than XP's Command Prompt. Terminal seems to be geared a bit more to power users specifically, letting them fine-tune the application to their liking. Terminal also sports many advanced features that Command Prompt lacks, such as the ability to save "sets" of settings, auto-discovery of local servers, connection bookmarks, secure keyboard entry, split screen, and more.
In terms of keyboard shortcuts, Terminal and Command Prompt are comparable.
Mac OS X: 8
Windows XP: 5
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