What is a Command Prompt in Windows? What is a CLI?
All of this will be revealed in this short introduction to the Windows Command Prompt. Most people that have never used the command line interface (CLI) will think you are doing some type of magic, or hacking when they see the dark screen you are typing into. Well their assumptions are partially true. The Command Prompt is used by hackers along with system admins, network administrators and just common users. There are many uses for the command prompt but we will go over the most common uses below.
First let’s answer the primary question, What is a Command Prompt? If you have been using Windows for any period of time you most likely have seen the Command Prompt at some point in your daily usage. The Command Prompt is a command line interpreter. You can find the Command Prompt in the Start Menu Applications or by searching cmd in the start menu. The Windows Command Prompt is normally located at C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
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Above you will see the various ways to find the command prompt on a Windows machine.
The History behind the illusive Command Prompt
The short version of the Command Prompt history starts with the early days of computers. The early computers were controlled strictly through typing commands into the CLI. The CLI stands for Command Line Interface. MS-Dos was one of those first types of systems which was heavily used at that time period. 1981 was when MS-DOS was created by Microsoft.
MS-DOS was often called a Command Line Interpreter or Shell. These terms came from its use of writing sets of commands for creation of bat files. Unlike operating systems of today, the command line was all text and not graphical.
In 1993 the Command Prompt was introduced in Windows NT. This is the same cmd.exe that is used today. Throughout time, command prompt has remained virtually the same with exceptions to the new commands being added.
I told you this was going to be short.
What can we do with the Command Prompt for beginners?
When you first open the Command Prompt you will be presented with the current working directory.
This is where you are currently working from. You will see a cursor blinking waiting for your command.
So, what can you do with the Command Prompt?