Access the shell
Each window in Terminal represents an instance of a shell process. The window contains a prompt that indicates you can enter a command. The prompt you see depends on your Terminal and shell preferences, but it often includes the name of the host you’re logged in to, your current working folder, your user name, and a prompt symbol. For example, if a user named mariah is using the default Bash shell, the prompt appears as:
server1:~ mariah$This indicates that the user named mariah is logged in to a computer named server1, and her current folder is her home folder, indicated by the tilde (~).
Open Terminal
Do one of the following:
Open Launchpad, then type “Terminal” into the search field.
Double-click the Terminal icon in /Applications/Utilities.
Quit a shell session
Enter the
exitcommand.
This ensures that commands actively running in the shell are closed. If anything’s still in progress, a dialog appears.