How much do you actually use the console?

If by "console" you mean a terminal window, all the time. All of my administrative tasks (sysadmin, software development, cleaning up files, finding files, etc.) is done from the terminal. The main GUI apps I use are a Web browser, email client, office suite, and video editor.

[-]

KlePu@reddit

Console, terminal, shell, command line are pretty much synonym IMHO

^(If you're talking about operating systems, obviously. A pilot might think of something different when reading the word "terminal" ;))

[-]

DFS_0019287@reddit

To me, the "console" is the physical text console you get if you're not running a GUI on Linux. The console is also a terminal, but a terminal isn't necessarily the console.

For example, console panic messages from the kernel go to the console, but not to every terminal window. There is a way for a terminal window to say "I am the console!" using the TIOCCONS ioctl. See "man TIOCCONS" for details.

A shell is not a synonym for terminal or console. A shell is the specific program that accepts and processes commands. An interactive shell is typically connected to a terminal or console, but it's not the same thing.

[-]

KlePu@reddit

Technically you're absolutely correct. Still, in spoken/written language (if not very domain specific) I'd accept any of the above terms. And most of the other comments silently ignored (or didn't even catch) it, which IMHO speaks for itself ;)

[-]

DFS_0019287@reddit

I'm a software developer. I like precision. :)

[-]

wezelboy@reddit

+1 for console vs. terminal window

[-]

StretchAcceptable881@reddit

If I need to look up the definition of a word, i’m a lot faster when I can just type dict followed by the word that I want to know the definition of its also a lot more efficient for me to type in acpi-b or UPower-d to get a quick glimpse of the battery life of my system before I need to charge it I usually use HTop to monitor my systems resources/processes

[-]

lunchbox651@reddit

I use it daily. I spend a lot of time on Linux servers throughout the day so it's often easier to do things via terminal on my PC as well. It's definitely not out of necessity, just what I prefer.

[-]

AutoModerator@reddit

This submission has been removed due to receiving too many reports from users. The mods have been notified and will re-approve if this removal was inappropriate, or leave it removed.

This is most likely because:

Your post belongs in r/linuxquestions or r/linux4noobs
Your post belongs in r/linuxmemes
Your post is considered "fluff" - things like a Tux plushie or old Linux CDs are an example and, while they may be popular vote wise, they are not considered on topic
Your post is otherwise deemed not appropriate for the subreddit

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[-]

Working_Narwhal_1067@reddit

As someone who's been using Linux exclusively for over 20 years, I got so used to using the terminal, that it's often easier for me to do it that way than using the graphical interface. And you see what's happening, which is a great advantage.

[-]

wezelboy@reddit

Terminal is arguably the best way to play Nethack.

[-]

Fair-Ease-2340@reddit

I use it more than I use ANY store

we love our
pacman & yay (AUR)

[-]

Kreesto_1966@reddit

All the time, but you have to understand that I grew up in the 80's and cut my teeth using Apple ][ and DOS computers. The terminal / console feels like home for me and always has. I tolerate GUI's.

[-]

6gv5@reddit

Every day. Much faster and scales better for complex works.

$ ls \~/bin /bin /sbin /usr/bin /usr/sbin|wc -l

13776

The above means, list the content of all directories one after another, count all lines (one executable/command per line) and show the result. Now real shell commands are a lot less, then we have symlinks, special files etc, so let's round that say to 2000, then imagine a screen with 2000 buttons and relevant entry boxes for commands accepting parameters.

GUIs are gorgeous and cool but sometimes nothing beats the good, way more powerful and modern command line.

[-]

mhc2001@reddit

Every day. I SSH into my servers and none of them have a monitor attached, or a desktop installed.

[-]

Captain_Pumpkinhead@reddit

More than I'd like.

😭

[-]

neospygil@reddit

When I need to do something on Docker or have to connect to my headless server.

[-]

redditissupercool1@reddit

yeah I use it more than the gui. sure there's a learning curve but it is just faster. nothing to do with Linux being difficult

[-]

StretchAcceptable881@reddit

When I also apply a firmware update for my System76 laptop, I always just prefer to use the terminal because it’s easier

[-]

sootfire@reddit

I use it for file management when I don't feel like using the UI. I also at this point prefer to use a terminal command to shut down my computer.

[-]

StretchAcceptable881@reddit

I prefer just typing in sudo shutdown now rather than doing it the GUI way

[-]

Leather_Flan5071@reddit

from the moment I boot the system to the moment I shut it down, the terminal stays

[-]

duva_@reddit

I have one OS window and tmux open almost all the time

[-]

avg_php_dev@reddit

You should ask for which tasks we use GUI. I would say I use 20% gui (browser, sometimes calc, keepas, signal).

[-]

Tsukurimashou@reddit

terminal > GUI

CLI and TUI rule

[-]

linuxhiker@reddit

Every day.

The console is faster at pretty much anything operational "if you are proficient".

[-]

robprobasco@reddit

Except for making and managing files. cd ls cd ls cd ls. Now, file permissions maybe another story.

[-]

LukePJ25@reddit

I don't know. Once you've picked up the relevant option flags and maybe put together a few aliases it becomes considerably faster than using a GUI.

As the commenter said, "if you are proficient".

[-]

doey77@reddit

What kind of commands do you use to make it faster / as fast? I generally agree but I’m not quite there yet for every file operation

[-]

linuxhiker@reddit

I will get skewered for this but here is a simple example:

find / -name *.mp4|while read f; do mv $f ~/Videos; done;

I wrote that without testing, may be bug.

[-]

fearless-fossa@reddit

Depends on what you want to do. If you want to quickly search a directory structure, tree or ncdu can be good options. Hell, something like chaining endless cds and lss together could probably also be solved by just pressing tab twice to see what's in the current directory you're browsing to.

Also, making files - you can do stuff like mkdir -p instance{01..50}/{opt,src,logs,scripts}/test.{html,js,css} (not that this would make sense, just for highlighting the power of shell expansion).

For some stuff the GUI is faster. But the terminal can really surprise people with its capabilities.

[-]

robprobasco@reddit

I guess being a daily Linux user for years and I’m not proficient. It’s like saying, if you are proficient, gaming is just as good on a track pad.

[-]

linuxhiker@reddit

Not even close.

I can find things, move things, secure things, log into things, change network settings, perform backups, automate tasks, faster than any gui user.

Your point about gaming doesn't equate. You are talking about a mechanical difference not a proficiency diffference.

Don't get me wrong, I am not sitting here using archie all day long. I use Brave, my email is on GUI my Distribution/Desktop is KDE NEON. I would also never edit a video in the console though technically its possible.

When I need to do the types of things I listed, its all command line.

[-]

LukePJ25@reddit

To each their own. I find it can be much faster. Some people prefer a GUI.

[-]

__rituraj@reddit

if you are doing cd ls cd ls repetition, you are missing the whole point of using terminal for file mamagement..

search for specific files / directories, and execute commands over them or their parent dir (you can do this right from home dir if you need)
use directory stack (pushd / popd) if you need to come back to specific dirs in order

most of the time you don't need to ls in between directory paths..

as you become "proficient", your directory structure also start "making sense" to you!

[-]

dfwtjms@reddit

I've been daily driving Linux without a GUI file manager for years. It's fine.

[-]

dnu-pdjdjdidndjs@reddit

every file manager is so unreliable on linux (and windows) (and everywhere) in various ways its just not worth it when dd/mv/cp work fine

[-]

AlexCM915@reddit

You could always use a TUI like Yazi, I made the change from Thunar and it's been really good, so much that I haven't miss any other thing besides the drive auto mounting (which can be set up anyway)

[-]

Reuse6717@reddit

I agree, I use the terminal almost 100% of the time but I've been using it since my days with the various Unix flavors.

[-]

bankroll5441@reddit

Same. I prefer it. No reason to waste my time with a gui if it can be done through the terminal more accurately and quicker with more control.

I also manage a lot of servers though so that keeps me pretty bound to the terminal

[-]

linuxhiker@reddit

I am just glad I don't have to use ed anymore /s

[-]

vancha113@reddit

For most of my tasks, because I do web development on remote machines and I use a lot of ssh for it. For my gaming pc at home I basically never use the terminal, unless I do hobby programming work on it. Overall I'd still say multiple times a day. Setting up rust projects with cargo, compiling, and executing them. Quick folder traversals, file creations, finding strings in files inside nested folders etc. While every thing I do in the terminal can be done with a Gui, the terminal way of doing it is often faster.

[-]

sitilge@reddit

always. for almost everything

[-]

szczypka@reddit

About 98%

[-]

mikaelld@reddit

The terminal is the first thing I start when logging in and it’s the last to shut down. I use a browser for web/email/calendar and sometimes an IDE for development, but usually it’s just vim in a terminal and other cli tools for various tasks.

[-]

elijuicyjones@reddit

Only every day for the last forty-five years stretching way back before Linux even existed. So yes I guess. Do you get a medal for not using the command line?

[-]

JerryRiceOfOhio2@reddit

i use it for work constantly, running my Python scripts, ssh to stuff, nmap, etc

[-]

AggressiveBenefit664@reddit

Não consigo nem imaginar que utilidades pode ter para quem não é desenvolvedor

[-]

DFS_0019287@reddit

Well, for example, suppose you have a huge directory full of thousands of files, emails perhaps, and you want to move everything older than a year into an Archive/ subdirectory. You could try doing it via a GUI, or you could do it in the terminal:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -mtime +365 -exec mv {} Archive/ \;

[-]

AggressiveBenefit664@reddit

Entendi. E a minha indagação foi justamente por não compreender os comandos necessários para uso do terminal. Isso é como se fosse a parte oculta do Linux digamos assim, aí fica difícil que eu consiga vizualizar o entendimento dessa parte " Lógica" do sistema.

[-]

DFS_0019287@reddit

Yes, that command probably looks like magic. But once you learn the essential commands, they become familiar and become a very efficient way to get things done. And then you start seeing more and more use-cases for them.

[-]

AshKetchyup@reddit

Only to install stuff or for lshw (program to show hardware info)

That's basically all my console usage

[-]

LancrusES@reddit

I use It to manage packages mainly, update, search, remove and install, Im used to use It, I like It, Im an old guy that enjoyed a lot CPC era and msdos era, and for me is faster than searching and selecting packages in a GUI app, when I edit config files I use It as well, same reason, Im used to It, basically for nearly everything system related I use the CLI, do you need to use It in your desktop home computer nowadays? No, you dont need to use It, so its a choice, you can choose to use It or not, Linux is freedom, you dont need to have LPIC to use It, we are talking about home use, no server administration or anything like that.

[-]

bew78@reddit

Yes

[-]

Avid_Arnieist@reddit

Well I have a homelab which requires the use of it almost everyday but outside of that I only really use it for updates

[-]

Pixl02@reddit

For installing stuff and updating system, so all the time, daily

[-]

-light_yagami@reddit

every day

[-]

jep_ebrilov@reddit

100% of time with linux, no GUI at all

[-]

tav_stuff@reddit

Every day

[-]

the_reven@reddit

Same, software sev, so I use it daily.

My son is a gamer, he's used it a few times, but doesn't need to. He's 17, I've never shown him how to use it. Put him on Linux in hopes he may learn something, turns out he is.

[-]

2rad0@reddit

console != terminal, a terminal session can run on the console. I use both regularly and my system would be practically a single user OS without it for switching tty's.

[-]

Jonrrrs@reddit

Depends. On my main machine with voidlinux and a dev workflow: i dont even have a graphical ide. The first thing i open uppon booting is the terminal.
On my linux mint laptop: i dont think i have opened it once in three months

[-]

riunp4rker@reddit

Honestly, I use it almost solely for updates, some file navigation, and then running programs, with all my terminals on Desktop 1 as a Status Desktop

Most the stuff I do on my computer is in programs like Obsidian, Discord, Steam, and Qutebrowser. I have no reason to just mess around in terminal

[-]

Unique_Technician984@reddit

i boot system and first opens console. move the windows a bit for luck and type sudo pacman -Syyu. then i do usual stuff like gaming,work etc.

[-]

stobbsm@reddit

I live in the console for 99% of what I do. The rest is a web browser.

[-]

BigtheBen@reddit

Compared to the rest of the people who replied here, I am a casual. I'm not afraid of the terminal, but learnt how to use GUI all my life and my distro does a pretty good job at aligning with the workflow I already knew so...I just stick with that

However, the terminal is amazing for automation and the like. I use exiftool quite often to sort out the metadata on media files, as well as some other commands with no GUI equivalent. So, yeah, even I hop on the console almost daily at the end of it

[-]

sptzmancer@reddit

I user a tiling window manager.

It's the first thing I open every boot.

It lives on workspace 1.

Half my tools only run on it.

The other half are daemons.

[-]

blinkenjim@reddit

All the time. The command line is where the real power lies.

[-]

cdm014@reddit

Every day. I have a Linux tablet. UI is mainly for the Web browser or messaging. All coding, or other text editing I do with cli and vim

[-]

Absolem1312@reddit

Every Day

[-]

sizmugen@reddit

98.5% im using terminal because its faster no delay or lag and everything is done. On Windows im using powershell also.

[-]

R3D_T1G3R@reddit

Daily.

[-]

Hartvigson@reddit

Almost every day when I am at home for zypper dup + flatpak update. Otherwise I try to avoid it as much as possible. It feels like I am one typo away from bricking my system...

[-]

46692@reddit

Often, but 90% of that is in ssh to a machine with no DE, so there is not really other option.

For actual local work on my KDE machine, idk once a week maybe, not really needed though especially if you are not a power user.

[-]

v_Karas@reddit

Hm everyday.. But I also use console everyday on windows.. So I'm like not the best person for that question..

[-]

IzumiiSakurai@reddit

I have a machine with no de that I write and code on

[-]

instancer-kirik@reddit

I've broken my installs numerous times, and wanted better package management solutions. So I made 2 tools. Debork, which fixes broken states run adjacent. And "here" which wraps yay and other package managers and appman and flatpak queries and does --no-confirm because why not spend hours now for minutes later forever

[-]

KlePu@reddit

When evaluating the answers, keep in mind that r/linux is probably more tech literate -> more likely to use a terminal than the average Linux user. My mom only opens a terminal when I mail her commands to copy+paste, yet I'm rather sure she's not on this sub ;)

[-]

Session_Illustrious@reddit (OP)

Thanks for the reminder but its still interesting to see all of the different comments about this topic. Even more so from more tech literate people.

[-]

KlePu@reddit

Couldn't agree more, found some good ideas in the comments \^\^

[-]

SecularVal@reddit

I try to use it as much as possible and I definitely could be more proficient. Really need to start the linux journey one of these days.

[-]

OddLack240@reddit

every day

[-]

Lmaoboobs@reddit

Probably at least once an hour

[-]

RustyThunder979@reddit

i use it for almost everything because it is so fast

[-]

Material_Mousse7017@reddit

Never

[-]

Your_Friendly_Nerd@reddit

idk what you do, but i feel like many of us are software devs, and the terminal is just a good place to work on software.

[-]

Tempest97BR@reddit

i do some hobby coding, so i like to always have a terminal open to use git commands and run scripts.

outside of coding, it's just very convenient for navigation when you'd rather type the names of directories than have to find and click on each one, especially when it's in your home folder.

not to mention that, depending on your DE and installed programs, some stuff you can really only do through the terminal, like changing file permissions and ownership

[-]

litescript@reddit

if it’s not in my browser, i pretty much don’t use the GUI. i have like, my own barebones notepad app, 4 or 5 terminals, and spotify. and my browser.

[-]

danyuri86@reddit

I use it quite often to view ascii porn

[-]

nandru@reddit

A lot... like A LOT. Excluding work (which is 90% terminal) I use it for a lot of things, from editing config files, to running thing from it to see why they crashes, even tried a spotify CLI client

[-]

astronomersassn@reddit

a lot, like... it's my main way of doing stuff

that being said, i prefer to and am comfortable doing so, and i do a lot of stuff that expects me to, as well as not having something like a flatpak store installed (i could use download and use discover, but i don't really have a reason to).

[-]

Kadin2048@reddit

I basically do not ever have a console / terminal window not open somewhere.

But I also have a bunch of headless Linux servers (Raspberry Pis, VPSs, media server) that I only interact with using the terminal, so it's sort of the least common denominator way to control everything.

[-]

techdog19@reddit

I use it everyday but to be fair I have been using it for decades and it is easier to me to use it than find the way to do it in the gui.

[-]

NefariousnessSea1449@reddit

Daily

[-]

Godenzoonaandewaal@reddit

Used windows for 30 years and now 1 year Linux so GUI is my natural instinct.

I don't think I use the terminal every day, but Krunner made me much more efficient than how I interacted with windows.

For example I booted the pc. Super space key for Krunner. Type s(lay the spire) and the game starts through steam.

Or Krunner and type PiUp and terminal opens, ssh to my raspberry and it fully updates system and pi hole

Those things I do, but Super E still opens Dolphin and it's comfortable to manually copy/interact with files

[-]

yourMomsBackMuscles@reddit

I use mine every single day. Thats one of the reasons I went with arch, its more geared towards terminal use than gui. I have it just launch on boot and do near everything from it.

[-]

sylvester_0@reddit

Work - daily. We use Kubernetes, Terraform, and all kinds of other tools that require CLI usage.

Personal - most days I pop into the terminal to update my machines (local or SSH.) Periodically I'll also do some operations on my NAS via the CLI.

[-]

evilkitten03@reddit

I rarely used it as I'm in the camp where I just want experience similar to Windows but if it was better. The stuff I do on my computer is browsing online, use GIMP and play few games. Unsurprisingly, I used Linux Mint

[-]

michaelpaoli@reddit

Terminal/tty interfaces all the dang time.

Console, not as much, but also depends on context, and sometimes you really do/will need it.

So, e.g. VMs, I do a quite a bit of console access ... for some VMs, more console access than anything else.

And even for the physical, will sometimes need console access - e.g. controlling/altering boot, or in some cases dealing with certain issues, typically (re)installation, etc.

And use it for most - VMs - often quite heavily used with VMs, sometimes (almost) exclusively.

[-]

tekjunkie28@reddit

Never.

[-]

urmamasllama@reddit

Bazzite.

Early on I ran a few ujust tools for setting up Sunshine and waydroid but otherwise if I wasn't using ssh to do stuff on my home server I would never touch it

[-]

protoanarchist@reddit

It's not necessary, it's awesome to use if you need/want.

Everyone makes a big stupid stink about it as a point against linux, but yet they'll do all kinds of weird arcane crap in PowerShell just so that they can pirate Office.

Humans love cognitive dissonance.

[-]

revilo-1988@reddit

90% mach ich im Terminal, also ja ich nutze sie sehr viel.

[-]

TheMcSebi@reddit

a LOT, but I also haven't been using any gui for the past 15 years until rather recently when I installed Debian with KDE plasma to my main notebook.

[-]

ibeerianhamhock@reddit

I only use the command line for Linux (well ssh specifically).

I have a Linux box at home and a hosted one and they generally don't need touching but when I need to go in they don't even have peripherals connected to them at all

[-]

jwademac@reddit

Only. Period

[-]

tomkatt@reddit

The terminal? All the time. At work on my MacBook to create folders, copy and move, and run commands because Finder is a pain in the balls.

On Linux to run rsync for my book library, install software, run updates, and more. Opening terminal to do stuff is second nature.

[-]

kolorcuk@reddit

Constantly, i really use a browser and a terminal.

[-]

MrRobosexual@reddit

Lets put it this way, Its the only app i auto start on boot. My partner however, maybe once or twice a week. It can be a lot faster and less frustrating than gui's. I have a terminal based music player, text editor, file explorer, browser(though not primary) and so much more. Latex? If you're in academia i highly recommend vimtex.

[-]

SeriousPlankton2000@reddit

Yes, except for browsing, watching video and things that need graphics.

[-]

Junior_Common_9644@reddit

I live mostly in the shell. Now I don't mean the GUI'less straight console, but in the terminals I have open. Do I use my desktop GUI? Sure! But it's mostly to allow me to have multiple shells open, to copy and paste between them, have a decent GUI email client and a browser, and take evidentiary screenshots. But yeah, shell and command line is life.

[-]

mister_gone@reddit

Nearly every day.

If we include Windows at work, I'm in some terminal or another multiple times per day.

[-]

yjm308@reddit

Every other day when i'm automating something for fun. Making scripts and setting up cron jobs or systemd jobs etc. It requires the console, I wouldn't even know how to use the gui for some of this stuff. My latest project is making Plex safely accessible by our home phones. I set up a dynamic dns on our phones and made a script on the computer that only opens the ports to the IP-adresses we currently are on. But some days I just want to watch a movie and not use it at all. But even then I will do a sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y :)

[-]

spreetin@reddit

I rarely use the console, but I use terminal emulators a lot. Outside of the web browser and games, I probably use 90+% terminal. The remainder is mainly tasks with inherently graphical aspects.

But I am a developer, so a lot of my computer usage naturally fits well in a terminal.

[-]

LemmysCodPiece@reddit

Every day. SSHing into other systems, file management, updates, editing text files and much more besides.

[-]

xour@reddit

A lot. I do most of my day-to-day tasks/usage in the console. I use a mix of programs and utilities (neovim, yazi, fzf, coreutils, etc). However, I don't force it: if I am going to use Spotify, I use its client.

At work, I am forced to use Windows. I have installed WSL, and I use the console as much as I can.

[-]

Slight_Manufacturer6@reddit

On my Linux servers? Every day because I have no GUI.

On the Desktop? Almost never. I use the CLI on Windows more than I do on Linux Desktop.

[-]

Azazeldaprinceofwar@reddit

I use it all the time. People have already said lots of things, moving files, editing files etc but those can all by done with gui if you want. The thing that drove me to the terminal was ssh. A protocol for accessing another machines terminal remotely. I have many machines so this is very useful and forced me to get used to working with only terminal access. So now I do everything in terminal and prefer terminal apps if possible for most tasks.

[-]

gesis@reddit

I use a console/terminal for pretty much all of my computing outside of a web browser (which I really only use for web-apps or to read online documentation/blogs).

If I'm "doing work" on my computer, there's a good chance that I'm dealing with some sort of structured data in a shell or writing text in [neo]vi[m].

[-]

redoubt515@reddit

probably a couple times a day on average, usually for small tasks

> Seeing all the posts and videos online it seems like people use it quite a bit but i just almost never see the need for it myself,

You don't need to use it very often, particularly on distros oriented towards new users. Outside of occasional troubleshooting or advanced configuration of something, using the terminal is not often needed in day to day use.

BUT as you get more experience and familiarity, develop your own preferences, you may find that you gravitate towards the terminal more and more. Sometimes because your preferences are more specific or granular than what the GUI offers, and often just because you find the terminal quicker, more informative, easier to understand, or more efficient. For me, I still tend to use GUIs when available for most things, but there are a lot of things that are just simpler to do in the terminal, and I gravitate towards the terminal for those tasks.

[-]

xXBongSlut420Xx@reddit

Every single day, to do most stuff. Editing files, moving, copying, deleting, managing my other servers, using git and other dev tools for work. If something can reasonably done through the terminal, that's usually the easiest way.

> everything can be easily done through a ui that is easy to understand and work with

If you learn the terminal, it's easier and faster than doing things through the ui.

[-]

NitroBA@reddit

Very little, I try avoid using it as I'm not a power user but havent had problems so far

[-]

deadbeef_enc0de@reddit

Friends what I am doing.

Gaming I generally don't touch it unless something is going wrong with proton/lutris/wine

Software development, a crap ton

[-]

neoh4x0r@reddit

I've been using the terminal everyday for quite a while now.

From my experience GUI-based interfaces can vary wildly between different applications and each one requires you to potentially learn a different workflow -- eg. how do I do X in Y, where is that option I need which was moved, etc, etc.

With a text-based interface I don't have to deal with multiple interfaces like that -- I simply enter a command, with arguments, and it behaves exactly the same no matter what type of terminal I'm using.

[-]

CommercialBig1729@reddit

No es de ahuevo usarla hahaha pero eliminar la necesidad de usar GUIs es realmente útil, usando solamente TUIs, excepto para navegadores o softwares de diseño, etc

[-]

RevolutionaryHigh@reddit

Console is just som much faster! If you wanna change anything without it, you either have to watch a video or read longish manual, then click, click, click... With a console you can either find your commend in history via Ctrl+R or just paste the command straight from google/LLM (ofc after verifying that that's the correct one).

[-]

PhantomNomad@reddit

I use the terminal almost exclusively. About the only thing I don't is for websites. But I grew up in the 80's when all you had was a terminal.

[-]

etoastie@reddit

The better question to ask is "how often do you use the gui to do any system change?" and the answer is about once a week or so for the occasional DE GUI setting tweak. I almost always have at least one shell instance open somewhere.

I'm biased because I'm a nerd, but once you get past the learning curve it really is faster for quite many things, and it's also more or less consistent across all machines. For example, if you blank on what your CPU type is (to figure out whether to get an x86_64 or arm64 binary), how do you check that in a GUI? I don't know how to do it in Gnome and I've used it for years, nevermind other DEs. I could easily look it up (probably some system tab somewhere), but in less than the time it takes to open Firefox and type that search, I could also open my terminal and type uname -m. And I know this will work no matter where I am: on any of my home machines running different distros, on my work machine (which isn't even Linux, but Mac), and on all the servers I touch at work.

There's a screenshot I have somewhere where I took a photo of an old stackexchange answer when I looked up this same process. For Linux it said "run one short command" and for Windows's gui it showed a lengthy 5 step process. It's not that you can't get around on a GUI (especially nowadays where they're actually quite good), but I do really think that for getting things done, avoiding the CLI leaves a lot on the table.

[-]

moopet@reddit

almost everything can be easily done through a UI that is easy to understand and work with

Yep, that's why I use the terminal. I find it easy to understand and work with. I find icons and emojis and that sort of navigation tricky.

So I use the terminal for everything except videos, games and browser stuff.

[-]

BigHeadTonyT@reddit

SSH and related stuff. Setting up services, configuring them. Checking logs and error output.

It is easier, faster, often probably the only way.

[-]

Santolmo@reddit

When developing, a lot. Even on windows I use the console regularly.

[-]

imtsemer@reddit

Every day.

[-]

razorree@reddit

how do you plan to run neofetch ???

[-]

ColetteDiskette@reddit

I use it all the time. I'm on Arch running KDE, and I find it easier to update software by typing "yay" or "flatpak update" than using something like Pamac. Also, Dolphin has been giving me massive fits, so I use Yazi as my file manager now, which has a TUI interface. I use neovim as my IDE, so that's yet another thing I use the terminal for. Also, I have a ton of bash and python scripts ready to go for a lot of tasks on here, which are part of my PATH and I run via the terminal.

I use it quite a lot, and it's faster than GUI for most things once you get used to it. (I used to think that was a load of BS, but ... no, I totally agree now.)

[-]

Neither-Ad-8914@reddit

Pretty much every day to get my updates or if I need a new package everything else is pretty much done via GUI

[-]

divad1196@reddit

I use it all the time for everything. It's just faster and more convenient to do anything.

Moving/Copying/creating files, changing directory, searching for files, ... it's just faster and easier when you know it.

[-]

rivercape-lex@reddit

Daily.

[-]

bediger4000@reddit

The console? None. I have i3 with 7 "workspaces" right now. Two of the workspaces have nothing but xterm running in them. I use the command line almost exclusively.

Why would you use a GUI for *anything* you don't have to? GUIs are just a form of rebus, or flash card or something. They don't have a grammar. You can only use them for what the creator(s) of the GUI allow you to do.

[-]

iBUYNEGEVS@reddit

I‘m the Windows to Mint dork. I rarely use the terminal, because I don’t care much about the technical aspects of Linux. I just like not being spied on by a tech giant and I hate AI. And ads.

[-]

Dyson201@reddit

Since switching to KDE, the dolphin file manager can run a terminal window in the file browser. So that's helped a lot. It's still slower than pure console, but I'm used to always having a file explore up anyway, and just typing commands straight in the folder I'm already viewing has been a nice workflow.

But I agree with everyone here. I don't use it as much on my PC, but the more work I do, the less GUI I use. The terminal window is just way better at most tasks.

[-]

codeasm@reddit

Daily, its how i do things. I use sway, used to use i3 and awesomewm before.

Its easier to diagnose things, move files. Copy binairies, develop progams, debug them. Gui apps are krita, kdenlive, dolphin to do simple file things and firefox.

Virtualmachines, network bridges, testing build scripts, i use the command line. I start minecraft from the commandline

[-]

HecticJuggler@reddit

Display environments & desktop apps have matured enough to be sufficient for most everyday use cases. The terminal works wonders for scripting and gives more predictable results for file operations etc.

[-]

hjake123@reddit

I use the terminal (aside from system admin) for managing git repos and a handful of programming things, but tbh I grew up with GUI and that's what I'm used to so I still use Dolphin for file manipulation.

If there's a command line task I do often (like updating), I'll bundle it into a script file and add a desktop file for it so I can click on it in my launcher instead of having to open terminal, move both hands over to my keyboard, remember the name, and type it out.

[-]

Antoinedeloup@reddit

I like how snappy and lightweight CLI programs are (also TUIs are beautiful) so I use some stuff in the terminal like Bluekeys (a typing game like TypeMonkey), and stupid shit like cowsay, cmatrix, cbonsai, etc. Other then that not much, Unless something's not working and I have to troubleshoot... Then I most certainly have to install, repair and interface programs there. Not a dealbreaker since I wanted to learn how to use a terminal and I'm learning some programming, but I guess for someone not comfortable with that it will be a pain in the ass to troubleshoot without guis. And that still happens a pot in my opinion

[-]

0x666c697473@reddit

At least two thirds of my day is in ssh and the terminal.

If I'm on the actual console (either via the vm service, or physical) then something has gone horribly wrong.

[-]

AlkalineGallery@reddit

It took me a bit to realize that the OP was talking about the terminal instead of the console.

[-]

DestroyedLolo@reddit

The first thing I'm doing when starting my PC is to open a terminal : Once you build the habit, using the keyboard makes everything faster (obviously but for graphical activities).

[-]

MelioraXI@reddit

Consider I'm a WM user, it's all I do when I'm not in a GUI application.

[-]

AdventurousSquash@reddit

I usually have two things open, a terminal (with lots of tabs), and a browser (with even more tabs) all day every day

[-]

troyvit@reddit

I'm a middle manager, so sort-of the wrong person you would think to use the console, but yakuake and guake make it the perfect tool for getting all my middle-manager-y things done. I'm too lazy to use dolphin when t's faster to move around directories via the console, and xdg-open opens all my stuff for me. Then it just kind-of snowballs and tui apps for music and git become the preferred way to do things instead of through a browser or an Electron app, and the good AI harnesses are all command line. No need to keep a google calendar tab open if you have gcalcli.

Because, side-rant, I've been spending more and more time lately killing firefox tabs that are sucking cpu and that is getting old. The more stuff I can move to the terminal the better.

[-]

JagerAntlerite7@reddit

Every day and frequently for software development with containers. I have an entire git repository dedicated to scripts for making API calls with curl, start/stop/restart/prune containerized apps, infrequently used git commands, remove outdated logs, etc. That is all in addition to just raw dogging commands for various tasks.

[-]

DoubleOwl7777@reddit

you can do pretty much everything through the ui, but often its just faster to use the terminal.

[-]

degoba@reddit

Im a sysadmin. We dont have guis on any of our servers. Everything is managed through code and config files. I live in vim and the terminal every day.

[-]

zissue@reddit

There are many times where I don't even start a graphical session and just stick to the console. For the times that I do start my Window Manager (OpenBox), I have multiple terminal windows open.

I use it often enough that I keep multiple terminal emulators installed for different tasks, as I sometimes prefer an option or two that one has that another doesn't.

At the end of the day, it's whatever works for your needs and wants, though. If you prefer to use GUI applications, then you should do that. Linux is about choice.

[-]

ikbah_riak@reddit

I find myself in the terminal for things that could be done using the GUI. It's just faster and easier once you've got the hang of it.

[-]

Electrical_Tomato_73@reddit

I use the terminal for everything. If you know how to use it, anything else feels unergonomic.

[-]

RudePragmatist@reddit

At home for personal stuff not that often. At home professionally or on a client site, a fuck load, mostly through SSH.

[-]

thephotoman@reddit

All day every day, even on my Macs.

It takes me back to my youth. Growing up, we didn’t have fancy GUIs on our personal computers. We used DOS or Xenix and liked it. Linux was still a twinkle in Linus’s eye.

I am a dinosaur.

[-]

docentmark@reddit

Console only in emergency. Terminal routinely, I use the best tool for the job.

[-]

LoudBoulder@reddit

Every day. Mainly for coding, homelabbing, RSS reader (YouTube, news, blogs)

[-]

BtEw_Crt@reddit

Mi día a día es la terminal.

[-]

Tj4t6ecXqnE@reddit

I've been spending 8 hours a day in the console at work and I've been doing it for the last 12 years.
So on my personal computer i absolutely don't want to see the terminal and i do everything i can trough UI. I yearn for the buttons to click.

[-]

MeMeiki@reddit

For almost everything, except some file managing. It's just satisfying to use lol, I don't have anything else to say. It's very fun once you learn it.

[-]

regeya@reddit

All the time. Hell, it seems like every time I sit down at a Mac, even, I end up firing up a terminal.

Are you talking about flat out text mode though? Not that often unless something goes wrong, in which case I absolutely need it.

Back when I started using Linux my computer was a hand me down 486DLC, one of those Cyrix processors that worked on a 386 board. I upgraded it to a shopping 8mb of RAM and I could run Netscape if I didn't mind constantly swapping. Console mode was a necessity. So much homework done in vim.

[-]

Turbulent-Spell-319@reddit

I use it everyday for writing notes, programming, and sys-admin. I also have some custom scripts that monitor my house. I view these from an SSH session. I usually have multiple tmux winodws and panes running.

The main thing I use GUIs for is web browsing and graphics editing.

[-]

high-tech-low-life@reddit

All day every day. I use GUIs for - most browsing - games Most of my browsing would be fine from a terminal. Lynx was my friend.

PS: "console" means something specific. I think "terminal" is the word that you should have used.

[-]

beaumad@reddit

I use the terminal constantly. It's much faster for my keyboard-driven workflow.

[-]

jgjot-singh@reddit

Every day for every thing ( vps)

[-]

shimoheihei2@reddit

I spend most of my days in the Linux console, and have done so since the 90s. But most of my Linux usage is on servers through ssh. Although even on desktop, I'm constantly automating and scripting tasks, and that's all done in the terminal.

[-]

siodhe@reddit

Console? That's different from using terminals.

Assuming you meant terminals (aka teletypes, or "tty" for short): That is a huge strength of Unix - my Linux host has 5000 commands available at the terminal, thousands of which can have output potentially piped into others as input, and nearly all of them can be used in writing interpreted programs ("scripts") to do a stunning number of things, and even from compiled programs if one should desire.

And of course, those scripts and programs you create become part of the same opus.

[-]

stipo42@reddit

As an end user you probably barely would need a shell at all

[-]

__rituraj@reddit

Most of my time is spent on the Terminal.. except when I'm browsing the internet, or playing Minecraft

File management (moving, renaming, searching) - GNU coreutils
Editing / perusing files in projects - Vim
Process and service management - ps, kill, top
usual maintenance stuff for system / user packages

[-]

jezpakani@reddit

I use the terminal almost exclusively with the exception of a web browser.

[-]

kjlsdjfskjldelfjls@reddit

I use emacs and/or terminals for most of my work, because those interfaces are simply faster and more capable than GUIs for a lot of common tasks.

[-]

arthursucks@reddit

It becomes very useful when you start building your own scripts for tasks that you do a lot. I do image processing for my clients and when I have a folder full of 50 to 80 images it's a lot easier to optimize those images with a single command.

[-]

random-user-420@reddit

I’m a cs major. I use the terminal for programming every day. The terminal is the reason I committed to Linux over Windows at the start of college.

[-]

DerekB52@reddit

I always have multiple terminals open. Vim, mpv, wordgrinder, ranger, yt-dlp, programming tasks, and random stuff like cutting a video or scaling a png with ffmpeg or imagemagick. I use the terminal all the time. It is my preferred way to do most tasks.

[-]

MrKusakabe@reddit

Checking the mixer/EQ settings of my soundcard via alsamixer.

[-]

Mammoth-Acadia2572@reddit

I use it to manage software and, if I'm in the mood for it, file management.

[-]

heylookatthetime@reddit

Depends on the system.

On my desktop, I use the GUI as much as anybody else for Web browsing or editing audio and video or whatever people do on desktops.

All the other systems are VMs that don't have guis so it's console only (router, pbx, development box, etc.).

[-]

jqVgawJG@reddit

As opposed to what? Are you a mouse noob?

[-]

fortnut159@reddit

I am studying software development and i also use it on rare occasions

[-]

sellproblems@reddit

I started thinking about what I use the terminal for that isn't either troubleshooting and fixing problems or package management and I realized I don't actually use it for anything lol.

[-]

InkOnTube@reddit

Rarely. I don't need it as everything I do is trough provided applications.

[-]

pancakeQueue@reddit

A lot, but I also am a software developer. For anything software related, it’s going to be all terminal with tmux & nvim. For more personal stuff I’ll use the terminal for book keeping cause I use hledger and knowing grep, awk, diff, less helps a ton for manipulating output and then piping it to a file.

[-]

Lluciocc@reddit

Mostly for git and moving file to restricted area..

[-]

rscmcl@reddit

I always have one open, I use it every day

[-]

no-sleep-only-code@reddit

I use it for pretty much everything outside of the web browser and games. I don’t blame anyone for preferring a GUI, but for anyone working with Linux professionally it’s essential and those skills carry over to personal use.

[-]

trustMeImDoge@reddit

I pretty much live in my console and browser for work. Most of my console work is code editing (vim), infrastructure shenanigans, and system management. My browser is for the various apps I use for work like Jira, e-mail, slack, and so on.

[-]

_o0Zero0o_@reddit

Simply put: If you need the terminal, you use the terminal. If you know of an alternative to do what you want, then you don't need to use the terminal.

[-]

Novero95@reddit

I almost exclusively use the terminal to ssh into my homelab server. Other than that, very rarely. Maybe sometimes to "dnf -install whatever"

[-]

virtualstaticvoid@reddit

Almost always have one open. Lost without one

[-]

sakaraa@reddit

Well most of us are devs and use it every day

[-]

Dang-Kangaroo@reddit

more and more and mo........

[-]

bikes-n-math@reddit

Everyday. The only non console apps I use are qutebrowser, gimp, feh, and mpv. What I'm doing in the console: vim, irssi, ffmpeg, yt-dlp, ssh, magick, ipython, gcc, ...

[-]

pfp-disciple@reddit

I'm old, and the console is muscle memory. I use it for most everything that doesn't have to be GUI.

If I were starting over, in a modern environment, I'd probably use the GUI much more. There are still low level situations where the console just gives better control or it's just easier to chain commands with pipes.

[-]

Munalo5@reddit

I am more comfortable using GUIs but learning to use the console.

I leave a file open in LibreOffice with commands I use.

I use ffmpeg A LOT and that I am comforatable using.

Ill never use the console to edit files and folders.

[-]

matsnake86@reddit

A lot...
But i am developer. So I'm not sure how much weight my opinion carries.
On the other hand, my dad has been using Aurora without any problems for a few months now and has never even seen the terminal.

[-]

Past_Shift6441@reddit

😄

[-]

undersulfurskies@reddit

I use it a lot. I only use apt and flatpaks, and install those from the terminal. I use the terminal to see my computer's performance (btop). I use the terminal to ssh. I use the terminal to update/upgrade. I like vim, and often use it (via terminal) to write notes, and SOMETIMES program. I use the terminal to compile or run code (C, C#, Python), as I don't really care to set that stuff up in VSC or an IDE. I for whatever reason find it easier to make folders/directories by typing "mkdir" instead of doing it in the file manager. Sometimes I need to run apps/flatpaks with specific parameters, so I have them run via a terminal instance.

I personally like the terminal, it's part of the Linux experience for me, so even though I could phase it out, I wouldn't.

[-]

Alenicia@reddit

I use it often because I think it's fun and pretty convenient when I want to do some simple commands like rebooting but don't want to move the cursor because of my keyboard shortcuts (I can open the Terminal/Run Command and literally just type "reboot" or "shutdown" when I need to).

But I don't really try to do anything else too complicated beyond maintenance with it.

[-]

kurth4cker@reddit

always. except web browsing.

[-]

bankei_yotaku@reddit

19%

[-]

CptSpeedydash@reddit

Excluding updates, my use of the console is exceedingly rare even then the vast majority of the console use is troubleshooting/program management.

There are a lot of things that can be simpler if done through console commands to those who know how to do it, but a lot of times it's more showing off than actually more useful.

[-]

These-Apple8817@reddit

I use it a lot but that's because of the need to ssh to other devices and running docker and what not.. If I just played games and browsed the internet, I doubt I would touch it at all

[-]

KingdomBobs@reddit

Depends on your DE

For a wm (im on hyprland) you will interact with your terminal a ton in the beginning, writing scripts and config files until your system is just perfect

After that rarely at all, most of my shit is automated

[-]

Past_Shift6441@reddit

Codex, gemini cli

[-]

Ganeshasnack@reddit

After the first 3 months of onboarding (to Linux in general) I basically only use the console to update my system now.

[-]

sidusnare@reddit

As much as I want to.

Which is what it should be for you too. If you want it as a point and click, you need a DE like Gnome or KDE that is well integrated to provide that user experience.

Every now and then you might hit a problem that you have to run some command to fix, but that's the same for Windows and MacOS.

[-]

Anhar001@reddit

Everyday, I couldn't live without it.

[-]

nicksterling@reddit

Honestly, at this point it’s less “how much do I use the terminal” and more “how much do I use the GUI.” I probably spend 98% of my time in the terminal.

[-]

fellipec@reddit

All the fvcking time

[-]

clhodapp@reddit

I primarily use two graphical in the workday: Chrome and Emacs.

In Emacs, I spend at least half my time in in vterm (the terminal)

[-]

Jmc_da_boss@reddit

I never touch a UI other than chrome and slack, and even then I've been slowly adding cli tools for common web uis like jira and confluence with Claude skills so I don't even touch the ui for those anymore.

Slack is a process but I'm getting there as well

[-]

cgoldberg@reddit

Besides web browsing, pretty much everything I do is initiated or run in a terminal.

[-]

xuteloops@reddit

it's gonna be different for everyone. like developers are gonna use it a ton, the people who switched to Linux for gaming are probably not gonna use it much if at all. standard desktop users are also probably using GUI for most things. I use it about 50% of the time. some things I just prefer to use CLI for as it's often faster than whatever GUI option might exist. some things I'm just lazy and I use the GUI for. just depends on the person and what they're using their OS for.

[-]

10leej@reddit

The fact that you've not needed it is proof of how far the Linux Desktop has come.
That said the reason you hear so much about the terminal is because of how universal it is for the sake of troubleshooting.

[-]

The_j0kker@reddit

I like to use it even tho im not a "pro", but thats how you learn, when i was using cachy i found it to be pretty user friendly dooing stuff thru UI. But yeah

[-]

valerielynx@reddit

Wouldn't say a lot? Probably a lot less than I should, but I like GUI solutions wherever I can have them. I use it to update my system and to use some tools like yt-dlp and tiddl. But other than that not lots...

[-]

thieh@reddit

I make sure the scripts are working as intended and not much more.

[-]

underdoeg@reddit

daily. for local tasks almost exclusively for system updates / package management.

but i have to log into a lot of remote machines via SSH.

[-]