GET SET UPStep 1 of 6About 10 min

Open a terminal

By the end of this step you can open a terminal, type a command, and move between folders.

It looks old-fashioned. It isn't hard. You only need about five commands for this whole course, and this step teaches three of them.

Showing steps for

1. Open it

On Windows

Press the Windows key on your keyboard.
Type Terminal.
Press Enter.

A window opens with a line like this:

Terminal output

PS C:\Users\YourName>

That line is the prompt. It means "I'm ready, type something". C:\Users\YourName is the folder you're in right now. PS means you're in PowerShell, the normal Windows terminal. Everything in this course works in PowerShell.

On macOS / Linux

Press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight search.
Type Terminal.
Press Enter.

A window opens with a line ending in % (or $), like this:

Terminal output

yourname@your-mac ~ %

That line is the prompt. It means "I'm ready, type something". The ~ means you're in your home folder, the one with your name on it.

2. Run your first command

Type this and press Enter:

Terminal

pwd

pwd means "print working directory": which folder am I in? (A directory is just another word for folder.)

3. Look around and move

ls lists what's in the current folder:

Terminal

ls

You'll see folders you recognise, like Documents, Downloads and Desktop.

cd means "change directory": it moves you into a folder. Try:

Terminal

cd Documents

Now run pwd again. It ends in Documents. To go back up one level:

Terminal

cd ..

The two dots mean "the folder above this one". And cd ~ always takes you back to your home folder, from anywhere.

Three habits that save hours

Copy and paste commands from this course instead of retyping them. Click Copy on any code box, then paste into the terminal: Ctrl + V on Windows, Cmd + V on Mac. Then press Enter.
Read the answer. After every command, look at what came back. An error message is the computer telling you exactly what's wrong. That's helpful, not scary.
Press the Up arrow to bring back the last command. Ctrl + C stops a command that's still running.

If it didn’t work

"The term 'xyz' is not recognized" or "command not found". Check the spelling: commands are exact. A missing space or an extra letter is enough to break one.

Paste doesn't work on Windows. Right-click inside the terminal window. That pastes too.

You ran cd into the wrong place. Run cd ~ to go home, and start again. Moving between folders never changes or deletes anything.

Your turn

Without looking back: go into your Downloads folder, list what's in it, then come back home. Check where you are with pwd at the end.

Next: Install a code editor