Open one right now

This is a do-it step. Find your operating system below, follow the three lines, and leave the window open. We'll use it for the rest of the chapter.

On a Mac

1. Press Command and the spacebar at the same time. A search box opens in the middle of the screen.
2. Type the word terminal.
3. Press Enter. A small window opens with some text in it. That's it.

On Windows

1. Click the Start menu (the Windows icon, bottom-left).
2. Type terminal.
3. Click "Terminal" or "Windows Terminal" in the results. A window opens. If your machine is older and there's no "Terminal", click "PowerShell" instead. Either one is fine for this course.

On Linux

1. You almost certainly know where yours is, but if not: look for an app called "Terminal" in your applications menu.
2. On many Linux desktops, Ctrl + Alt + T opens one directly.
3. Open it and leave it open.

You should be looking at something like this

yourname@yourcomputer ~ %

The exact text is different on every machine. It might be longer, it might have a $ instead of a %, it might be a different color. None of that matters. What matters is there's a line of text and, at the end of it, a cursor waiting for you.

That waiting cursor is the terminal saying "ready." You haven't broken anything. You haven't started anything dangerous. You've opened a text box. Nothing happens until you type a command and press enter, and we'll do that together in two steps.

If a window is open and a cursor is blinking, you're done with this step. Keep it open.