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World L1: The Shophouse

The terminal and the prompt

You will learn: how to read the prompt and give a server your first commands.

Checked with Linux (Debian 13) on 1 Nov 2026

The problem

Kancil rents a shophouse far away. It is a server called kedai. It has no screen and no mouse. How do you tell it what to do?

Watch

This is the prompt: you@kedai:~$ Tap the part that names the server.

0 of 1 found

The terminal: A text window into the server. You type commands; the server types back. is your window into the shop. The prompt is the shop saying “Ready. Your turn.”

Try it

Type whoami and press Enter. It asks the server: who am I here?

You are hereyou@kedai:~$

Folder ~

  • kedai/drwxrwxr-xcounter kitchen menu store

+ 3 hidden (ls -a)

Services

  • cronrunningstarts at boot
  • sshrunningstarts at boot
  • nginxrunningstarts at boot

Predict

You type whoamii by mistake. What does the server say?

Try it

The program that reads your typing is the shell: The counter helper who reads what you type and runs it. On Debian it is bash.. Ask it two things: the server’s name (hostname), then the time (date).

You are hereyou@kedai:~$

Folder ~

  • kedai/drwxrwxr-xcounter kitchen menu store

+ 3 hidden (ls -a)

Services

  • cronrunningstarts at boot
  • sshrunningstarts at boot
  • nginxrunningstarts at boot

Check

$ means a normal user. # means root: the owner with every key. Sort these prompts.

Drag a card into a box. Or tap the card, then tap the box.

      You did it!

      You can now read the prompt and talk to a server.

      Go deeper (optional)

      ~ is short for your home folder, /home/you. On macOS the prompt may end with %: that shell is zsh. Same idea.

      Real rep (optional). Use your own computer or a free playground, never a work server.

      Real mission

      2. whoami
      3. hostname
      4. date

      0 of 4 steps done · Your ticks are saved.