What Is The Text In Front Of The Command Line Called

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The Question

SuperUser reader Erty is curious:

What is that little bit called?

username@computer:~$ And in Windows:

C:\Users\Username> Is there a formal way to refer to that text?

Thanks in advance!

The Answer

SuperUser contributor Barlop offers some insight:

If all this talk of the prompt has you in a command-line sort of mood, check out some of the following How-To Geek articles about life at the prompt:

In linux, you could be more specific and say “the bash prompt” in the case of the bash shell, or for the KSH shell, The KSH (korn shell) prompt etc. In Windows you can change the prompt with the PROMPT command.

In windows, you could be more specific and say “the C prompt”, and the prompt in windows is most famously C:> or C:\something…> so you can see how it gets that name. A techie might’ve frustratingly said to a user on the phone “Do you get the C prompt?”. While saying it as C prompt, some write it as The C:\ prompt or The C: prompt. One wouldn’t call it that when it was A: or D: (which you get when you boot DOS off floppy or cd drive, or you change to one those drives from the command prompt) and nobody talks of the A prompt or the D prompt, only the famous one, the C prompt.

How To Personalize the Windows Command Prompt 5 Windows Command Prompt Tricks You Probably Don’t Know Beginner Geek: How to Start Using the Linux Terminal Become a Linux Terminal Power User With These 8 Tricks How to Manage Processes from the Linux Terminal: 10 Commands You Need to Know

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