Today’s “Newbie Tip” is learning some basics about the “Command Line Interface” or as it’s mostly referred to, “Command Line”. The command line gives the user the ability to interact with the operating system by typing via a text terminal.

I started learning computers back when DOS was all that was available to me, so I was comfortable with the command line. When Windows 95 was released my command line usage dropped considerably because there simply wasn't the "need" for it that there once was. I've gone from using the command line all the time to using it very seldom because GUI's were getting better and becoming more wide spread.

I am personally a strong advocate of using the Command Line. However, I am coming from a more tech type of situation than some others do. For the 'average" user however, is the Command Line relevant to everyday use?

One of the most powerful features of the Linux command line interface, (and other shells that conform to the POSIX standard) is the ability to pipeline output from one command as the input to another. This is done using the vertical bar or pipe character [ | ].

I thought it would be useful to break away from all the GUI-goodness and offer up a few command line tips and tricks. Why? No matter how powerful, user-friendly, and modern the Linux desktop becomes, there may come a time when you want to step up your game and get down and dirty with the command line interface.

Since I’ve started using Twitter, I’ve been on the hunt for a command line version, so I don’t need to start up a browser or send an SMS on my phone. As I found out, it’s pretty darn easy to Twitter from the command line.

I love the command line. However, most people can’t just live on the command line, GUI’s can be pretty useful :P. I find myself spawning GUI programs from the command line a lot, and here are two tips which make doing that a pleasant experience:

In the last article I talked about simple command pipelines, one of the features that makes the Linux command line so powerful and so worth learning. So if you want to get comfortable using the command line, here are some tips that will make it a lot easier.

This is the first in a series of posts on just what the title says: The command line. The main point will be this: Stop worrying about the command line.