Start a new process without blocking the terminal

Question

Is it possible to do this? For example if I run "gedit tifatul.txt" via the command line, my terminal becomes blocked and I can't enter other command in this terminal before I quit gedit. Can I start a program (like gedit) without blocking the terminal? In windows I think this can be done like "start notepad tifatul.txt"

Answer 1

Just add & at the end of the command. This makes the new process to run in background and you can continue using your terminal. For example: gedit new_file.txt &

Answer 2

I would like to recommend you nohup gedit filename &. Simply gedit filename &, you're bearing the risk to accidentally close the terminal and lose your edit. If you don't like nohup.out being created each time, just redirect the output:

nohup gedit filename > /dev/null &