Examples of this include the Microsoft Windows, DOS Shell, and Mouse Systems PowerPanel. However, some programming and maintenance tasks may not have a graphical user interface and may still use a command line.Īlternatives to the command line interface include text-based user interface menus (for example, IBM AIX SMIT), keyboard shortcuts, and various desktop metaphors centered on the pointer (usually controlled with a mouse). Today, many users rely upon graphical user interfaces and menu-driven interactions. Such access was primarily provided to users by computer terminals starting in the mid-1960s, and continued to be used throughout the 1970s and 1980s on VAX/VMS, Unix systems and personal computer systems including DOS, CP/M and Apple DOS. Operating systems implement a command-line interface in a shell for interactive access to operating system functions or services. The program which handles the interface is called a command-line interpreter or command-line processor.
Screenshot of Windows PowerShell 1.0, running on Windows VistaĪ command-line interface ( CLI) processes commands to a computer program in the form of lines of text.
