Published Oct 17, 2023, 6:00 AM EDT
Shaant is a Senior Author at MUO and has been writing about technology since 2021. He holds a bachelor’s in Computer Applications, and he now pens complex how-tos and other handy guides on Windows, Mac, Artificial Intelligence, and Security.
He got his big break in technology writing at MUO in 2021. Since then, his work has appeared in many top publications like MSN (US), Android Police, and OnMSFT. He still has his old Windows-powered HP laptop from 2016; he's also a proud MacBook Air user since 2021.
When he’s not researching or writing about tech, he can be found enjoying a good book, running, or hanging out with friends.
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We understand if you're not a huge of your Mac's simple graphical user interface. Not everyone has to like or agree on everything, and it's natural that this would hold in your tech choices as well.
This is where a simple command line tool can help you. Although macOS doesn't have Windows' Command Prompt, a proper replacement exists in the form of Terminal. It has been in use since the early days of Macintosh computers. So, let's look at how you can open it.
Terminal Is the Mac Equivalent of Command Prompt
As we said above, Macs don't have Command Prompt, and that's because it's a Windows program specifically. However, this doesn't mean macOS doesn't have a command-line utility at all.
The built-in Terminal app on your Mac serves as the default command-line interpreter in macOS. Like Command Prompt on Windows, it accepts keyboard commands to carry out different tasks on your Mac.
However, these similarities can be deceiving. That's because Terminal is built on a Unix-based environment, while the Command Prompt completely operates on a Windows one.
Similarly, because Terminal runs on a Unix-based environment, the syntax that follows is also Unix-like. For example, it uses commands that are preceded by hyphens, like below:
sudo --help This command, for instance, gives you the summary for the sudo command.
How to Open Terminal on Your Mac
Like any other application on your Mac, there are many ways to open Terminal in macOS. Indeed, depending on your workflow, you can choose a method that's more suitable for you.
Here, in this case, we'll stick with the most straightforward one, which is using Spotlight search on your Mac. Let's see how:
- Open Spotlight by pressing Cmd + Space on your keyboard.
- Type "terminal" in the search box and select the best match.
That's it—the Terminal will be launched, and you will be free to use the Terminal app however you like.
If you have a Finder window open, you can also navigate to Applications > Utilities to find Terminal along with the rest of the apps that live in the macOS Utilities folder.
Opening the Mac's Version of Command Prompt Is Easy
Launching the Command Prompt, or Terminal as it's called in macOS, is pretty straightforward. As you can see, a simple Spotlight search on your Mac will get the job done without any hassles.
However, this is only one of the methods. You are free to try other ways to open the Terminal app if you need more options that may better suit your workflow.