Why Do Command Lines Still Exist?

In this age of graphical interfaces, why are command line-based shells like PowerShell and BASH still around?

AFFILIATES & REFERRALS
---------------------------------------------------

FOLLOW US ELSEWHERE
---------------------------------------------------

FOLLOW OUR OTHER CHANNELS
---------------------------------------------------

[Adam.Robert]

I hit the like button for the “hey, built in dark mode, ” joke. Legit chuckled.

[OhadLutzky]

One more advantage of the commandline is the ease of explaining how to do something complicated: "Here are the commands, paste them into your shell" can often be easier than a series of screenshots (which may be out-of-date) or an explanation of "here's roughly where that button would be, three menu layers deep".

[Nordern]

Never have something been so true like the comparison between GUI features & command line flexibility, learning how to use FFMPEG in the command line & batch scripts has been a game changer for me

[SkySpiral_Lets_play]

1 light weight and fast
2 no UI issues
3 easier to do complicated or repetitive tasks
4 works on lots of systems
5 more possible options
6 dark mode

[ErilynOfAnachronos]

"It comes with a built-in dark mode."
Nice one Anthony! 👍😁

[orangejuice]

Anthony always delivers the facts. Love it.

[AlejandroLZuvic]

"If you use Linux sure you're familiar with Bash" *shows ZSH *

[guilleeeavgs]

i loved the “hey, and it comes with built-in dark mode”

[CarputingYT]

Anthony is awesome. Please keep him as a presenter, he's so friendly at explaining stuff and seems like such a genuinely nice dude.

[konnilol]

Title: "Why Do Command Lines Still Exist?"
Me, a SysAdmin, who's using ssh 80% of the time he spends in front of a PC: "Because shell go

[suparki]

Also keep in mind that a GUI requires a LOT more additional work for the developers. As a result, there are a lot more tools that can only be used using code and/or command lines that simply aren't available using a GUI.

[dealloc]

A major benefit with terminals is piping one programs output into another programs input, technically making another program from a pipeline of programs. Another benefit is that, a lot of shells (ZSH, Bash and Fish for example) can automatically expand parameters, like paths with globs and other patterns.

[cloudybrains]

Every developer/sys admin out there : Why do GUIs still exist when you have the command line available?

[fjl]

Since Linus and Luke are switching to Linux and Anthony is obviously going to play part into helping them, it'd be cool if Anthony made some Linux basics tutorials, tips and tricks for the rest of us to watch and learn while teaching Luke and Linus.

[heinrichdertote]

Me, who uses the terminal for everything… “why wouldn’t they? GUIs are often way slower and more complicated…”

[jongeduard]

To me, it's EXACTLY the same question as why code based programming still very much dominates in general: it's indeed it's customizability & flexibility.
If programming code and shell interfaces where not as very useful as they are, they wouldn't be so heavily developed as they are!
For the same reasons "low code" programming solutions don't really win the battle in gereral. If they were more useful than code, they would have already been much more popular and dominant than they actually are! In reality those solutions are only used for simpler, more standardised, more predictable tasks.
I personally believe that code will never disappear. In the future, if GUI's get more advanced, so does code as well! Code will always be most flexible for complex tasks.very much dominates in general: it's indeed it's customizability & flexibility.

[youdontknowme]

me 10 years ago: What is this 70's Unix crap?
me today: I can't live without bash at least

[NickyHendriks]

I miss one reason in this video: SSH. It's so much easier to just SSH into anything from any device, like when I don't have my laptop with me I can still SSH into my server with my phone. VNC Viewer works but it's just not made for a small display. SSH doesn't care.

Also, 'sudo apt update && apt upgrade' is a reason in itself to love the command line.

[carlsouthern]

Anthony’s episodes are the best. They’re the only episodes where I always learn something. Keep it up!

[darysparta]

so nice to have Anthony explain things, he's very good at it