Reaching Others University at Buffalo - The State University of New York
Skip to Content
UB Information Technology

Using a Command-Line Interface

From a command-line interface you can create HTML code using an editor such as emacs, nano or vi.

Before the existence of graphical user interfaces such as Windows, people interacted with computers using text instructions. This type of computing is still available to the UB community on UBUnix. For those who are familiar with it, the command-line interface (CLI) remains an efficient and powerful way of computing.

Want to try it?

  1. Follow the instructions for Connecting to UBUnix.
  2. At the command prompt, type emacs public_html/index.html.
  3. Press Return.

This launches an editing program on UBUnix called “emacs,” and tells it to go to your public_html directory (where your personal website is stored) and open your home page (index.html). See how many things you did with one line of text? That is just a glimpse of the power of CLI computing.

You can also type vi public_html/index.html or nano public_html/indes.html to use the vi or nano editors instead.

Was This Information Helpful?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Provide your email address if you would like to be contacted.
(Required)
Enter both words below, separated by a space. If either word appears unclear, click 'Get a new challenge' to receive two new words.
Getting Help
Service Guides
News and Alerts
Service List
Forms
IT Policies
About Us
UB Social Media