Command

  1. A word or set of words that, when typed or in some cases spoken, will cause the computer to perform a certain operation. For example, at a MS-DOS prompt when typing "dir" command the user would see a listing of files in the current directory.

    See the MS-DOS page for a listing of MS-DOS commands.
    See the Unix / Linux page for a listing of Unix and Linux commands.

  2. When referring to a programming language, a command is a unique word used to perform a specific operation. For example, "print" is a command used to display text on the screen. As another example, a user may type the below command in their program to print "Hello World!" on the screen when the program is executed.

    print "Hello World!";

Also see: Command key, Command Language, Command prompt, Operating system definitions, Programming definitions, Syntax