Command-line interface

A command-line interface (CLI) is a means of interacting with software via commands – each formatted as a line of text. Command-line interfaces emerged in the mid-1960s, on computer terminals, as an interactive and more user-friendly alternative to the non-interactive mode available with punched cards.^[1]

For a long time, a CLI was the most common interface for software, but today a graphical user interface (GUI) is more common. Nonetheless, many programs such as operating system and software development utilities still provide CLI.

A CLI enables automating programs since commands can be stored in a script file that can be used repeatedly. A script allows its contained commands to be executed as group; as a program; as a command.

A CLI is made possible by command-line interpreters or command-line processors, which are programs that execute input commands.

Alternatives to a CLI include a GUI (including the desktop metaphor such as Windows), text-based menuing (including DOS Shell and IBM AIX SMIT), and keyboard shortcuts.