Are you one of those people who breaks into a cold sweat at the thought of opening a Linux terminal? Do you picture yourself accidentally breaking your entire system with a single misplaced character? If so, you’re not alone—but you’re also buying into some seriously outdated myths.
I’ve been using Linux for nearly a decade, and during this time, I’ve encountered countless misconceptions about the terminal. Some come from outdated information, others from Hollywood’s dramatic hacking scenes, and many from well-meaning but misinformed individuals. So, let me walk you through some of the biggest terminal myths and debunk them so you won’t be afraid of using one of the most powerful tools in computing.
9The Terminal Is Necessary for Everything You Do on Linux
This might’ve been true back in the 90s, but modern Linux desktopsdon’t necessitate terminal use. you’re able to use buttons, sliders, and counters to customize most desktops and tweak their look and feel. There are powerful graphical apps to help you with normal day-to-day tasks.
Similar to Windows or macOS, almost all modern Linux distros give you a graphical file manager, calculator, image viewer, media player, calendar, browser, and a settings app. Then you have tools likeYaST(on OpenSUSE and related distros), a powerful graphical control panel for system admins. Also, how can I leave out my favorite graphical tool for partition management:GParted?
8Graphical Apps Have Made the Terminal Obsolete
This one is a complete 180 from the previous claim—but it’s also a myth! Despite all the graphical apps, the Linux terminal is still alive and strong, boasting an active community of passionate users and developers. In fact,a new terminal emulator called Ghostty—that I absolutely love—just dropped a few months ago!
You see, the Linux terminal is often themost efficient tool for performing certain tasks. I personally love it for itspiping abilities,which allow me to chain multiple commands together. You can also createbash scriptsthat can help you automate boring and repetitive tasks you routinely do on your system.
7The Terminal Looks Boring and Archaic
If your terminal looks boring, then that’s a choice, not a limitation! Modern terminals are incredibly customizable. you’re able to change the color schemes, font styles, add transparency with blur effects, and even configure the prompt styles with tools likeOh My ZshorStarship.
There are also a bunch of CLI tools to add that extra oomph to impress your friends or strangers in the coffee shop. For example:
My own setup uses a transparent background with theCatppuccincolor scheme and fastfetch. In fact, some days, I spend more time customizing my terminal than actually using it. Don’t judge—we all have our hobbies.
6The Terminal is Only for Advanced Users
It is true that people with more Linux experience or a technical background tend to use the terminal more. However, that doesn’t mean the terminal isonlyfor them, or that it’s not beginner-friendly. In fact, what makes the terminalseem advancedisn’t technical complexity, but rather unfamiliarity. The concepts aren’t harder; they’re just different.
Many terminal commands are surprisingly intuitive and easy to learn. We have a list ofbeginner-friendly Linux commandsto get you started. There are also manyfun commandsyou can try out when you’re feeling bored—which should help you get more comfortable using the terminal.
When I first started with Linux, I specifically focused on using theterminal for file management—replacing the graphical file manager. It was a fun exercise and the only thing hard about it was that it was a new way of doing things. Any Linux newcomer willing to invest some time with the terminal can get comfortable using it—you don’t need to be an advanced tech whiz!
5The Terminal Syntax Is Gobbledygook
Most Linux commands follow a consistent logical format that goes like: [command] [options] [arguments]. The main exception to this syntax is when you need to enter sudo (another command)—which meanssuperuser do—in front of the main command. This is necessary if and when the command you want to run requires elevated privileges. For reference, let’s take a command like:
It basically means you are using elevated privileges (sudo) to use the APT package manager with the install option (alternative options include remove, update, upgrade, list, etc.). Finally, you plug in the argument, which is firefox here, but it can be any app available in the APT repository.
Coming to the commands themselves, they’re not random letters but rather abbreviations. For example, APT stands for “Advanced Package Tool,” ls is short for “list,” cd means “change directory,” and mv stands for move. These aren’t random letter combinations—they’re intuitive abbreviations that make sense, and are easy to remember, once you know what they represent.
4You Need to Memorize Hundreds of Commands
This myth probably scares away more potential Linux users than any other, and it’s completely false. You don’t need to memorize hundreds of commands any more than you need to memorize every menu option in the graphical apps you use.
My friend Dave McKay recommends thatyou should know these 37 Linux commands, but I probably know and use 20-25 of them—don’t tell him, though! You’ll naturally memorize the useful commands through repetition, just like you remember keyboard shortcuts in your favorite applications.
For everything else, you have multiple resources at your disposal. Theman commandprovides built-in documentation for any command. Online resources like theArchWikialso provide comprehensive guides. It’s like having a library—you don’t need to memorize every book, just know where to find the information when you need it!
When most people think of the Linux terminal, they imagine walls of incomprehensible text scrolling by. I get how that can be overwhelming, but here’s the thing—you don’t necessarily need to read all that text, at least not always!
You see, on Windows or macOS, when the system is doing something, like installing an app, it will show you a visual progress bar. However, on Linux, when using the terminal to do something, it shows you every change happening to your system. That’s the wall of text appearing in front of you. You don’t typically need to worry about it—or read it—unless you’re trying to troubleshoot an issue. It’s just some helpful information there at your disposal, in case you need it.
There are actually some Linux commands that support the –quiet or –silent argument to reduce the total text appearing on the screen. There’s also the –verbose argument to make more text appear on the screen. You can typemanfollowed by the command’s name to check if that command supports these arguments.
2One Typo in the Terminal can Destroy Your System
This is a big scary myth that keeps many people from opening the terminal altogether. While I understand the concern, this isn’t something most users should worry about. For example, instead of the command:
Let’s say I accidentally typed:
This won’t break my system. I’ll just get an error message saying “app: command not found”.
That said, sometimes, when dealing with certain files, if you accidentally mistype the name of another file, thatmight cause some issuesby making unwanted changes to a file. Again, it’s very unlikely to break the system. Furthermore, you can easily check thehistory of the commands you usedand fix your mistakes.
The real danger comes from blindly copy-pasting commands from random websites without understanding what they do. Yes, there are somedeadly Linux commandsthat could break your system. This is why you shouldn’t run any random command off the internet without knowing what it does.
Before running any command you find online, I like to ask ChatGPT to explain what it does. It’s become my go-to sanity check, and it’ssurprisingly good at explaining Linux commandsin plain English.
1Terminal Skills Aren’t Transferable
If you’re someone who primarily uses the terminal to install apps, I can see how this myth can seem to be true. Ubuntu uses APT, Arch uses pacman, and Fedora uses DNF for installing apps. This might give the impression that each distro uses different terminal commands. However, the core commands—the ones you’ll use most often—work identically everywhere.
Whether you’re on Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, or some obscure distro nobody’s heard of, ls, cd, grep, find, and dozens of other essential commands work exactly the same way. These fundamental tools are part of thePOSIX standard, which means they’re universal across Unix-like systems.
The terminal skills you learn on one distribution are largely transferable to any other. Once you understand the basic concepts offile permissions, directory navigation, and command structure, you can work comfortably on any Linux system.
The Linux terminal isn’t the scary monster it’s made out to be. These myths have persisted for years, creating unnecessary barriers between users and one of computing’s most powerful tools. Fortunately, now you know fact from fiction. So, the next time someone tells you the terminal is too complicated or outdated, you’ll know better—hopefully, even correct their misunderstandings!
