interface on a non-graphical operating system in which commands are explicitly written
A command line interface or CLI is a method of interacting with an
operating system or
software using a
command line interpreter. This command line interpreter may be a
text terminal, terminal emulator, or remote shell client such as
PuTTY.The concept of the CLI originated when
teletype machines (TTY) were connected to computers in the
1950s, and offered results on demand, compared to 'batch' oriented mechanical
punch card input technology. Dedicated text-based
CRT terminals followed, with faster interaction and more information visible at one time, then
graphical terminals enriched the visual display of information. Currently personal computers encapsulate both functions in software.
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