Recognising prompts and how to exit

When working at the command line, you might not recognise your prompt. On this page you will find tips to discover where you are and how to exit if you are not where you want to be.

Shell

• If your shell prompt is $ you are at bash.

  

  To exit from bash type exit and press ENTER.

• If your shell prompt is > you may have typed ' or ", to specify a string, as part of a shell command but have not typed another ' or " to close the string.

  

  To interrupt the current command press CTRL-C.

• If the bottom-left of your shell window shows --More-- you are viewing a file using more.

  

  To exit from more press q.

• If the bottom-left of your shell window shows filename, : or (END) you are viewing a file using less.

  

  To exit from less press q.

• If the bottom-left of your shell window shows Manual page you are viewing a man page.

  

  To exit from man press q.

• If the top of your shell window shows “GNU nano” you are in the nano text editor.

  

  To exit from nano press CTRL-X. If you have unsaved changes, you will be asked to save these - press y to save, or n to quit without saving.

• If your shell window shows ~ at the beginning of each lines you are in the vi text editor.

  

  To exit from vi type :q! to exit without saving. If this text just appears on screen then press ESC then type :q!.

• If the bottom of your shell window shows (Fundamental) ---- you are in the emacs or xemacs text editor.

  

  To exit from emacs or xemacs press CTRL-X CTRL-C. If you have unsaved changes, you will be asked to save these - press y to save, or n then type yes to quit without saving.

  Calling GUI from console

  Emacs has a graphical user interface mode. When you call it from the prompt, the prompt will stop responding to your commands until you close Emacs.

  

Python

• If your shell prompt is >>> you are in python.

  

  To exit from python type exit() or CTRL-D.

• If your shell prompt is ... you have an unclosed environment inside python.

  

  To interrupt the environment type CTRL-C.

• If your shell prompt is In [123]: you are in ipython.

  

  To exit from ipython type exit(), or CTRL-D then press y.

• If your shell prompt is ...: you have an unclosed environment inside ipython.

  

  To interrupt the environment type CTRL-C.

R

• If your shell prompt is > you are in R.

  

  To exit from R type q(). It will ask if you want to save the workspace and you should type y for yes and n for no.

• If your shell prompt is + you have a unclosed environment inside R.

  

  To interrupt the environment type CTRL-C.