There are many different terminal programs, and thus, the terminal that you use on your computer will vary according to your operating system.įor instance, Mac as well as many Linux computers have a default terminal program installed that provides access to Bash. Previously, you learned that a terminal is the command line interface (CLI) that gives you access to Bash. use repeatable commands for these tasks across many different operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux).launch programs from specific directories on your computer (e.g.run programs that provide more functionality at the command line (e.g.quickly and efficiently work with many files and directories at once.easily navigate your computer to access and manage files and folders (i.e.Working in the terminal with Bash provides you with the ability to: Common tasks that you can run at the command line include checking your current working directory, changing directories, making a new directory, extracting files, and finding files on your computer. With Bash commands, you will be able to perform many tasks more efficiently and automate and replicate workflows across different operating systems. GUIs and command line Bash are complementary-by knowing both, you will greatly expand the range of tasks you can accomplish with your computer. Using Bash in the Terminal is a powerful way of interacting with your computer.
Why Is Bash Important for Open Reproducible Science Sometimes you will hear Bash and Shell used interchangeably this textbook uses the term Bash. You can also write and execute scripts in Bash, just like you can in R or Python, that can be executed across different operating systems.īash stands for “Bourne Again SHell” and is an updated version of Shell. For example, you can use Bash to perform operations on multiple files quickly via the command line.
This allows you to control your computer by typing in commands with a keyboard, instead of using buttons or drop down menus in a GUI with a mouse/keyboard.īash (also known as the “Bourne Again SHell”) is an implementation of Shell and allows you to efficiently perform many tasks. These commands can be entered and executed via the terminal. commands) and return information produced by executing these commands (i.e.
In the chapter on Open Reproducible Science, you learned that Shell is the primary program that computers use to receive code (i.e. You can also use the terminal to launch and execute open reproducible science tools such as Jupyter Notebook, Python, and git, which you will use throughout this textbook.
For example, working with files in the terminal is faster and more efficient than working with files in a graphic environment like Windows Explorer or the Finder on a MAC. However, accessing the command line or terminal can often be more efficient than using GUIs for certain tasks, and you can send commands via the terminal to programmatically accomplish these tasks. Today, there are computers that can both provide commands AND perform the computation, and these computers have graphical user interfaces (known as GUIs) that make it easy to perform tasks.
Terminal, Shell, and Bash - An Overview Terminal