<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html> <!-- Created by GNU Texinfo 6.5, http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/ --> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>Running Octave (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))</title> <meta name="description" content="Running Octave (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))"> <meta name="keywords" content="Running Octave (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))"> <meta name="resource-type" content="document"> <meta name="distribution" content="global"> <meta name="Generator" content="makeinfo"> <link href="index.html#Top" rel="start" title="Top"> <link href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" rel="index" title="Concept Index"> <link href="index.html#SEC_Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"> <link href="Introduction.html#Introduction" rel="up" title="Introduction"> <link href="Simple-Examples.html#Simple-Examples" rel="next" title="Simple Examples"> <link href="Introduction.html#Introduction" rel="prev" title="Introduction"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} blockquote.indentedblock {margin-right: 0em} blockquote.smallindentedblock {margin-right: 0em; font-size: smaller} blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} div.display {margin-left: 3.2em} div.example {margin-left: 3.2em} div.lisp {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smalldisplay {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smallexample {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smalllisp {margin-left: 3.2em} kbd {font-style: oblique} pre.display {font-family: inherit} pre.format {font-family: inherit} pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} pre.smalldisplay {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} pre.smallformat {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} span.nolinebreak {white-space: nowrap} span.roman {font-family: initial; font-weight: normal} span.sansserif {font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: normal} ul.no-bullet {list-style: none} --> </style> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="octave.css"> </head> <body lang="en"> <a name="Running-Octave"></a> <div class="header"> <p> Next: <a href="Simple-Examples.html#Simple-Examples" accesskey="n" rel="next">Simple Examples</a>, Up: <a href="Introduction.html#Introduction" accesskey="u" rel="up">Introduction</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> </div> <hr> <a name="Running-Octave-1"></a> <h3 class="section">1.1 Running Octave</h3> <p>On most systems, Octave is started with the shell command ‘<samp>octave</samp>’. This starts the graphical user interface. The central window in the GUI is the Octave command-line interface. In this window Octave displays an initial message and then a prompt indicating it is ready to accept input. If you have chosen the traditional command-line interface then only the command prompt appears in the same window that was running a shell. In either case, you can immediately begin typing Octave commands. </p> <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 <tt class="key">CTRL</tt> and then pressing <tt class="key">c</tt>. Doing this will normally return you to Octave’s prompt. </p> <a name="index-exiting-octave"></a> <a name="index-quitting-octave"></a> <p>To exit Octave, type <kbd>quit</kbd> or <kbd>exit</kbd> at the Octave prompt. </p> <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>. </p> </body> </html>