<html lang="en"> <head> <title>Running Octave - GNU Octave</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"> <meta name="description" content="GNU Octave"> <meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13"> <link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top"> <link rel="up" href="Introduction.html#Introduction" title="Introduction"> <link rel="next" href="Simple-Examples.html#Simple-Examples" title="Simple Examples"> <link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> <style type="text/css"><!-- pre.display { font-family:inherit } pre.format { font-family:inherit } pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller } pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller } span.sc { font-variant:small-caps } span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; } span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; } --></style> </head> <body> <div class="node"> <a name="Running-Octave"></a> <p> Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Simple-Examples.html#Simple-Examples">Simple Examples</a>, Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Introduction.html#Introduction">Introduction</a> <hr> </div> <h3 class="section">1.1 Running Octave</h3> <p>On most systems, Octave is started with the shell command ‘<samp><span class="samp">octave</span></samp>’. Octave displays an initial message and then a prompt indicating it is ready to accept input. You can begin typing Octave commands immediately afterward. <p>If you get into trouble, you can usually interrupt Octave by typing <kbd>Control-C</kbd> (written <kbd>C-c</kbd> for short). <kbd>C-c</kbd> gets its name from the fact that you type it by holding down <CTRL> and then pressing <c>. Doing this will normally return you to Octave's prompt. <p><a name="index-exiting-octave-8"></a><a name="index-quitting-octave-9"></a>To exit Octave, type <kbd>quit</kbd>, or <kbd>exit</kbd> at the Octave prompt. <p>On systems that support job control, you can suspend Octave by sending it a <code>SIGTSTP</code> signal, usually by typing <kbd>C-z</kbd>. </body></html>