What is Command Line Interface (CLI)?

CLI stands for:

• Command Line Interface
• Command Line Interpreter
• Command Line Input

Command Line Input

CLI is a command line program that accepts text input to execute operating system functions.

In the 1960s, using only computer terminals, this was the only way to interact with computers.

In the 1970s an 1980s, command line input was commonly used by Unix systems and PC systems like MS-DOS and Apple DOS.

Today, with graphical user interfaces (GUI), most users never use command-line interfaces (CLI).

However, CLI is still used by software developers and system administrators to configure computers, install software, and access features that are not available in the graphical interface.

Examples

The software package manager npm uses command line input to install software:

Windows Example

Mac OS Example

You can navigate your folders (directories) with command line commands:

Windows Example

Use CLI commands with great attention.

Wrong use can easily delete files or destroy your computer system completely.

Basic Linux CLI Commands

Command	Description
ls	List the directory (folder) system.
cd pathname	Change directory (folder) in the file system.
cd ..	Move one level up (one folder) in the file system.
cp	Copy a file to another folder.
mv	Move a file to another folder.
mkdir	Creates a new directory (folder).
rmdir	Remove a directory (folder).
clear	Clears the CLI window.
exit	Closes the CLI window.
man command	Shows the manual for a given command.

Basic Windows CLI Commands

Command	Description
dir	List the directory (folder) system.
cd pathname	Change directory (folder) in the file system.
cd \	Move to the root folder of the file system.
cd ..	Move one level up (one folder) in the file system.
copy	Copy a file to another folder.
move	Move a file to another folder.
type filename	Type a file.
mkdir or md	Creates a new directory (folder).
rmdir or rd	Removes a directory (folder).
cls	Clears the CLI window.
exit	Closes the CLI window.
help command	Shows the manual for a given command.

DOS Commands Help

You can display all available commands with the help command:

Example

ASSOC	Displays or modifies file extension associations.
ATTRIB	Displays or changes file attributes.
BREAK	Sets or clears extended CTRL+C checking.
BCDEDIT	Sets properties in boot database to control boot loading.
CACLS	Displays or modifies access control lists (ACLs) of files.
CALL	Calls one batch program from another.
CD	Displays the name of or changes the current directory.
CHCP	Displays or sets the active code page number.
CHDIR	Displays the name of or changes the current directory.
CHKDSK	Checks a disk and displays a status report.
CHKNTFS	Displays or modifies the checking of disk at boot time.
CLS	Clears the screen.
CMD	Starts a new instance of the Windows command interpreter.
COLOR	Sets the default console foreground and background colors.
COMP	Compares the contents of two files or sets of files.
COMPACT	Displays or alters the compression of files on NTFS partitions.
CONVERT	Converts FAT volumes to NTFS. You cannot convert the current drive.
COPY	Copies one or more files to another location.
DATE	Displays or sets the date.
DEL	Deletes one or more files.
DIR	Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.
DISKPART	Displays or configures Disk Partition properties.
DOSKEY	Edits command lines, recalls Windows commands, and creates macros.
DRIVERQUERY	Displays current device driver status and properties.
ECHO	Displays messages, or turns command echoing on or off.
ENDLOCAL	Ends localization of environment changes in a batch file.
ERASE	Deletes one or more files.
EXIT	Quits the CMD.EXE program (command interpreter).
FC	Compares two files or sets of files, and displays the differences between them.
FIND	Searches for a text string in a file or files.
FINDSTR	Searches for strings in files.
FOR	Runs a specified command for each file in a set of files.
FORMAT	Formats a disk for use with Windows.
FSUTIL	Displays or configures the file system properties.
FTYPE	Displays or modifies file types used in file extension associations.
GOTO	Directs the Windows command interpreter to a labeled line in a batch program.
GPRESULT	Displays Group Policy information for machine or user.
GRAFTABL	Enables Windows to display an extended character set in graphics mode.
HELP	Provides Help information for Windows commands.
ICACLS	Display, modify, backup, or restore ACLs for files and directories.
IF	Performs conditional processing in batch programs.
LABEL	Creates, changes, or deletes the volume label of a disk.
MD	Creates a directory.
MKDIR	Creates a directory.
MKLINK	Creates Symbolic Links and Hard Links.
MODE	Configures a system device.
MORE	Displays output one screen at a time.
MOVE	Moves one or more files from one directory to another directory.
OPENFILES	Displays files opened by remote users for a file share.
PATH	Displays or sets a search path for executable files.
PAUSE	Suspends processing of a batch file and displays a message.
POPD	Restores the previous value of the current directory saved by PUSHD.
PRINT	Prints a text file.
PROMPT	Changes the Windows command prompt.
PUSHD	Saves the current directory then changes it.
RD	Removes a directory.
RECOVER	Recovers readable information from a bad or defective disk.
REM	Records comments (remarks) in batch files or CONFIG.SYS.
REN	Renames a file or files.
RENAME	Renames a file or files.
REPLACE	Replaces files.
RMDIR	Removes a directory.
ROBOCOPY	Advanced utility to copy files and directory trees.
SET	Displays, sets, or removes Windows environment variables.
SETLOCAL	Begins localization of environment changes in a batch file.
SC	Displays or configures services (background processes).
SCHTASKS	Schedules commands and programs to run on a computer.
SHIFT	Shifts the position of replaceable parameters in batch files.
SHUTDOWN	Allows proper local or remote shutdown of machine.
SORT	Sorts input.
START	Starts a separate window to run a specified program or command.
SUBST	Associates a path with a drive letter.
SYSTEMINFO	Displays machine specific properties and configuration.
TASKLIST	Displays all currently running tasks including services.
TASKKILL	Kill or stop a running process or application.
TIME	Displays or sets the system time.
TITLE	Sets the window title for a CMD.EXE session.
TREE	Graphically displays the directory structure of a drive or path.
TYPE	Displays the contents of a text file.
VER	Displays the Windows version.
VERIFY	Tells Windows whether to verify that your files are written correctly to a disk.
VOL	Displays a disk volume label and serial number.
XCOPY	Copies files and directory trees.
WMIC	Displays WMI information inside interactive command shell.

Command Help

For more information on a specific command, type help + command-name

Example

Displays or sets the date.

Type DATE without parameters to display the current date setting and
a prompt for a new one. Press ENTER to keep the same date.

If Command Extensions are enabled the DATE command supports
the /T switch which tells the command to just output the
current date, without prompting for a new date.

.NET CLI overview

This article applies to: вњ”пёЏ .NET Core 2.1 SDK and later versions

The .NET command-line interface (CLI) is a cross-platform toolchain for developing, building, running, and publishing .NET applications.

The .NET CLI is included with the .NET SDK. To learn how to install the .NET SDK, see Install .NET Core.

CLI commands

The following commands are installed by default:

Basic commands

Project modification commands

Advanced commands

Tool management commands

• tool install
• tool list
• tool update
• tool restore Available since .NET Core SDK 3.0.
• tool run Available since .NET Core SDK 3.0.
• tool uninstall

Tools are console applications that are installed from NuGet packages and are invoked from the command prompt. You can write tools yourself or install tools written by third parties. Tools are also known as global tools, tool-path tools, and local tools. For more information, see .NET tools overview.

Command structure

CLI command structure consists of the driver («dotnet»), the command, and possibly command arguments and options. You see this pattern in most CLI operations, such as creating a new console app and running it from the command line as the following commands show when executed from a directory named my_app:

Driver

The driver is named dotnet and has two responsibilities, either running a framework-dependent app or executing a command.

To run a framework-dependent app, specify the app after the driver, for example, dotnet /path/to/my_app.dll . When executing the command from the folder where the app’s DLL resides, simply execute dotnet my_app.dll . If you want to use a specific version of the .NET Runtime, use the —fx-version option (see the dotnet command reference).

When you supply a command to the driver, dotnet.exe starts the CLI command execution process. For example:

First, the driver determines the version of the SDK to use. If there is no global.json file, the latest version of the SDK available is used. This might be either a preview or stable version, depending on what is latest on the machine. Once the SDK version is determined, it executes the command.

Command

The command performs an action. For example, dotnet build builds code. dotnet publish publishes code. The commands are implemented as a console application using a dotnet convention.

Arguments

The arguments you pass on the command line are the arguments to the command invoked. For example, when you execute dotnet publish my_app.csproj , the my_app.csproj argument indicates the project to publish and is passed to the publish command.

Options

The options you pass on the command line are the options to the command invoked. For example, when you execute dotnet publish —output /build_output , the —output option and its value are passed to the publish command.

Running via the Command Line¶

As well as calling an application’s Controllers via the URL in a browser they can also be loaded via the command-line interface (CLI).

What is the CLI?¶

The command-line interface is a text-based method of interacting with computers. For more information, check the Wikipedia article.

Why run via the command-line?¶

There are many reasons for running CodeIgniter from the command-line, but they are not always obvious.

• Run your cron-jobs without needing to use wget or curl.
• Make your cron-jobs inaccessible from being loaded in the URL by checking the return value of is_cli() .
• Make interactive “tasks” that can do things like set permissions, prune cache folders, run backups, etc.
• Integrate with other applications in other languages. For example, a random C++ script could call one command and run code in your models!

Let’s try it: Hello World!¶

Let’s create a simple controller so you can see it in action. Using your text editor, create a file called Tools.php, and put the following code in it:

Then save the file to your app/Controllers/ directory.

Now normally you would visit your site using a URL similar to this:

Instead, we are going to open Terminal in Mac/Linux or go to Run > “cmd” in Windows and navigate to our CodeIgniter project’s web root.

If you did it right, you should see Hello World! printed.

Here we are passing it an argument in the same way that URL parameters work. “John Smith” is passed as an argument and output is:

That’s the basics!¶

That, in a nutshell, is all there is to know about controllers on the command line. Remember that this is just a normal controller, so routing and _remap() works fine.

However, CodeIgniter provides additional tools to make creating CLI-accessible scripts even more pleasant, include CLI-only routing, and a library that helps you with CLI-only tools.

CLI-Only Routing¶

In your Routes.php file you can create routes that are only accessible from the CLI as easily as you would create any other route. Instead of using the get() , post() , or similar method, you would use the cli() method. Everything else works exactly like a normal route definition:

For more information, see the Routes page.

The CLI Library¶

The CLI library makes working with the CLI interface simple. It provides easy ways to output text in multiple colors to the terminal window. It also allows you to prompt a user for information, making it easy to build flexible, smart tools.

See the CLI Library page for detailed information.

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