I know that cmd.exe is a console program. When you run that program, it opens your standard black and white rectangular window. Within that window, there is the Command Line Interpreter denoted by > (this is $ in *NIX systems).

So if cmd.exe == "Command Prompt" == Console Program, does that make the window that opens a Console, Console Window or a Terminal?

Bonus:

Since a shell is a program that runs other program, cmd.exe must also be one. That said, what shell is it (i.e. *NIX has bash for example)? Is it just Windows Shell?

2 Answers

What is cmd.exe?

cmd is a command-line interpreter, a program that accepts input, runs other programs and writes output.

When you run that program, it opens your standard black and white rectangular window.

Not always. You can run a second cmd.exe in a currently open cmd window without opening a new command window.

Does that make the window that opens a Console, Console Window or a Terminal?

The window is called a "Command Prompt", as indicated by it's title bar:

This particular command prompt is an Administrator command prompt.

Since a shell is a program that runs other program, cmd.exe must also be one

If you want to use the word shell as a description then it is a cmd shell.

I think of a terminal as an environment that accepts text input and provides text based output. It typically runs a shell which is an interpreter while the console is the physical terminal.

Put it this way: you start cmd.exe and run Powershell.

You are still at the same console, in the same terminal session. But your shell has changed ;)

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