A shell is terminology for a command-line interpreter most commonly used with Unix-like operating systems, but also used to interact with GUI-based operating systems in a more granular fashion. Not only does it allows the user to run programs from a text interface, but frequently offers basic programming features such as variables, substitution, output redirection, and wildcards.

A shell is terminology for a command-line interpreter most commonly used with Unix-like operating systems, but also used to interact with GUI-based operating systems in a more granular fashion.

Not only does it allows the user to run programs from a text interface, but frequently offers basic programming features such as variables, substitution, output redirection, and wildcards.

The name was first used by Unix operating system for an interpreter used for command prompt, but currently the term shell refers to BASH(Bourne Again SHell) and other command prompt interpreters too.