Table of Contents
Advertisement
7
Command Line Interface
Entering Commands
This section describes how to enter CLI commands.
Keywords and Arguments
A CLI command is a series of keywords and arguments. Keywords identify a
command, and arguments specify configuration parameters. For example, in the
command "show interface ethernet," show and interface are keywords, and
ethernet is an argument that specifies the interface type.
You can enter commands as follows:
• To enter a simple command, enter the command keyword.
• To enter commands that require parameters, enter the required parameters after
the command keyword. For example, to set a password for the administrator,
enter:
DUAL OUTDOOR(config)#username smith
Minimum Abbreviation
The CLI will accept a minimum number of characters that uniquely identify a
command. For example, the command "configure" can be entered as con. If an
entry is ambiguous, the system will prompt for further input.
Command Completion
If you terminate input with a Tab key, the CLI will print the remaining characters of a
partial keyword up to the point of ambiguity. In the "configure" example, typing con
followed by a tab will result in printing the command up to "configure."
Getting Help on Commands
You can display a brief description of the help system by entering the help
command. You can also display command syntax by following a command with the
"?" character to list keywords or parameters.
Showing Commands
If you enter a "?" at the command prompt, the system will display the first level of
keywords for the current configuration mode (Exec, Global Configuration, or
7-2
Advertisement
Table of Contents
