This page discusses finding and using the Command Line Interface (CLI) in the three OS families: Linux, OSX, and Windows.
A CLI is a text based interface in which the user can manually type commands to do various things, as opposed to a Graphical User Interface (GUI; gooey) where the user uses a mouse to navigate various options. In HPC, where raw processing power is valued over a sleek interface, the CLI is used primarily. A more in depth discussion: Command Line Interface.
Linux and OSX Terminal Window
Generally speaking, the Terminal app in Unix based OSes like MacOS and Linux will look like this:
and can be found by simply searching for ‘Terminal’.
Windows Command Prompt
In Windows 10 and 11, the Command Prompt looks like this:
and can be accessed by simply searching for ‘Command Prompt'.
There are various apps, such as MobaXterm that provide more feature rich terminals for Windows. A more in depth exploration of the Windows CLI is here.