command line

command line (plural command lines) (computing)

2. A shell, a command line interface; usually used with the definite article.

   I'm so used to the command line that I don't even know how to find things in the GUI.

   The command line offers a lot of helpful features, such as tab completion and wildcard expansion.

3. The text prompt presented to the user in a command line interface.

   Type the following at the command line: du -s -h.

4. A line of text that is entered at such a prompt.

   Use the following command line to compile a file without linking: gcc -c main.c -o main.o