# Your first command

Course: Terminal Basics — https://zero2vibecode.com/learn/terminal-basics
Canonical URL: https://zero2vibecode.com/learn/terminal-basics/0-3-your-first-command

Every command has the same shape — a name, then what it should work on. Learn it once with echo and it holds for all the rest.

Time to type something and get an answer back.

## The shape every command shares

Command lines all look the same:

```
name argument argument
```

The first word is the **command** — the name of the program you want to run. Everything after it is **arguments**: the material the command works on, separated by spaces.

```
echo hello
```

`echo` is the command. `hello` is the argument. Press Enter and the terminal prints:

```
hello
```

That is the whole grammar. Learn it once and every command you meet after this is just a new name and new arguments.

## Spaces are the separator, so they matter

The shell splits your line on spaces. That is how it knows where the command ends and the arguments begin.

```
echo hello world
```

sends `echo` two arguments, `hello` and `world`. It prints them back joined by a space, so you see `hello world` and nothing looks unusual. But a command that expects exactly one argument will be confused by two.

When something you type has a space *inside* it — a file called `my notes.txt`, say — wrap it in quotes: `"my notes.txt"`. The quotes tell the shell "this is one thing, do not split it". A surprising share of beginner errors are one missing pair of quotes.

## Try it

Type this and press Enter:

```
echo Hello, terminal
```

The terminal prints `Hello, terminal` and gives you a fresh prompt. That fresh prompt is the terminal's way of saying "done, next".

`echo` earns its keep later. In level 2 you will send its output into a file instead of onto the screen, which is how you create files with content in them without ever opening an editor.