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What is a terminal and how do I open and use it?
How do I access the Terminal?

I just got ubuntu running on my computer and now I am ready to write a program...but I can't figure out how to open a command terminal. I guess I don't know where to find which version I am running either. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Community
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hydro
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2 Answers2

60

You can either:

  • Open the Dash by clicking the Ubuntu icon in the upper-left, type "terminal", and select the Terminal application from the results that appear.
  • Hit the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Alt+T.
Jjed
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46

There are a couple of methods:

  • If you're running Unity: open the dash, type terminal, hit Return.
  • If you're on the old style menus, Applications → Accessories → Terminal.
  • Control + Alt + T.
  • Alt + F2, gnome-terminal, Return.
  • For a TTY: Control + Alt + F1..7.

If you're using Ubuntu variants, you might need to substitute gnome-terminal for xfce4-terminal, konsole or if you've gone off-piste, terminator (my fav) or if you're running out of options, xterm. There are others — many, many others — but I doubt you'll ever find them on a *buntu default install.

The TTYs are your last, best hope if you desperately need some form of terminal. Just be aware that they're not conscious of the graphical environment so if you want to launch something graphical from one, you'll need to run export DISPLAY=:0 first. Or adapt that if you're running more than one X display.

Oli
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