<HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE > Command line usage </TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="VideoLAN HOWTO" HREF="index.html"><LINK REL="UP" TITLE="Introduction" HREF="intro.html"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE=" How can I use VideoLAN ? " HREF="x155.html"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE=" Install the required software and hardware " HREF="install.html"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="sect1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE SUMMARY="Header navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="3" ALIGN="center" >VideoLAN HOWTO</TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="x155.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" >Chapter 1. Introduction</TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="install.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="sect1" ><H1 CLASS="sect1" ><A NAME="AEN198" ></A >1.4. Command line usage</H1 ><P ></P ><UL ><LI ><P > VLC has many different graphical interfaces, that are organized quite differently in order to be in harmony with the guidelines of each operating system supported. Documenting the use of each graphical interface is too long, and some features are only available via the command line interface. Therefore we decided to document only the command line interface, but in many cases it shoud be easy to guess how to use the graphical interface for the same use ! </P ></LI ><LI ><P > VLS has a command line and a telnet interface, but no graphical interface ! </P ></LI ></UL ><P > All the commands that show up in this document should be typed inside a terminal. .</P ><DIV CLASS="sect2" ><H2 CLASS="sect2" ><A NAME="AEN206" ></A >1.4.1. Open a terminal</H2 ><DIV CLASS="simplesect" ><H3 CLASS="simplesect" ><A NAME="AEN208" ></A >1.4.1.1. Windows</H3 ><P > Click on <EM >Start</EM >, <EM >Run</EM > and type : </P ><P ></P ><UL ><LI ><P ><B CLASS="command" >cmd</B > <B CLASS="keycap" >Enter</B > (Windows 2000 / XP),</P ></LI ><LI ><P ><B CLASS="command" >command</B > <B CLASS="keycap" >Enter</B > (Windows 95 / 98 / ME).</P ></LI ></UL ><P > The terminal appears Le terminal apparait </P ><DIV CLASS="figure" ><A NAME="AEN223" ></A ><P ><B >Figure 1-2. Windows terminal</B ></P ><DIV CLASS="mediaobject" ><P ><IMG SRC="images/terminal-windows.jpg"></P ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="note" ><P ></P ><TABLE CLASS="note" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="25" ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="TOP" ><IMG SRC="../images/note.gif" HSPACE="5" ALT="Note"></TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" ><P > Under Windows, you need to be in the directory where the program is installed to run it. </P ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="simplesect" ><H3 CLASS="simplesect" ><A NAME="AEN230" ></A >1.4.1.2. Linux / Unix</H3 ><P > Open a terminal :</P ><DIV CLASS="figure" ><A NAME="AEN233" ></A ><P ><B >Figure 1-3. Linux X terminal</B ></P ><DIV CLASS="mediaobject" ><P ><IMG SRC="images/terminal-linux.jpg"></P ></DIV ></DIV ><P > In the documentation, we adopt the following conventions for the Unix commands : </P ><P ></P ><UL ><LI ><P > commands that should be typed as <EM >root</EM > have a <B CLASS="command" >#</B > prompt : </P ><TABLE BORDER="0" BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0" WIDTH="100%" ><TR ><TD ><FONT COLOR="#000000" ><PRE CLASS="screen" > <TT CLASS="prompt" ># </TT ><TT CLASS="userinput" ><B >command_to_be_typed_as_root</B ></TT > </PRE ></FONT ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ></LI ><LI ><P > commands that should be typed as a regular user have a <B CLASS="command" >%</B > prompt : </P ><TABLE BORDER="0" BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0" WIDTH="100%" ><TR ><TD ><FONT COLOR="#000000" ><PRE CLASS="screen" > <TT CLASS="prompt" >% </TT ><TT CLASS="userinput" ><B >command_to_be_typed_as_regular_user</B ></TT > </PRE ></FONT ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ></LI ></UL ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="simplesect" ><H3 CLASS="simplesect" ><A NAME="AEN253" ></A >1.4.1.3. Mac OS X</H3 ><P > Go to <EM >Applications</EM >, open the folder <EM >Utilities</EM > and double-click on <EM >Terminal</EM > :</P ><DIV CLASS="figure" ><A NAME="AEN259" ></A ><P ><B >Figure 1-4. Mac OS X terminal</B ></P ><DIV CLASS="mediaobject" ><P ><IMG SRC="images/terminal-macosx.jpg"></P ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="note" ><P ></P ><TABLE CLASS="note" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="25" ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="TOP" ><IMG SRC="../images/note.gif" HSPACE="5" ALT="Note"></TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" ><P > Under Mac OS X, you need to be in the directory where the program is installed to run it, and start the command with <B CLASS="command" >./</B > .</P ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="simplesect" ><H3 CLASS="simplesect" ><A NAME="AEN267" ></A >1.4.1.4. BeOS</H3 ><P > In the deskbar, go to <EM >Application</EM > and then <EM >Terminal</EM > : </P ><DIV CLASS="figure" ><A NAME="AEN272" ></A ><P ><B >Figure 1-5. BeOS terminal</B ></P ><DIV CLASS="mediaobject" ><P ><IMG SRC="images/terminal-beos.jpg"></P ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="note" ><P ></P ><TABLE CLASS="note" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="25" ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="TOP" ><IMG SRC="../images/note.gif" HSPACE="5" ALT="Note"></TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" ><P > Under BeOS, you need to be in the directory where the program is installed to run it, and start the command with <B CLASS="command" >./</B > .</P ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></DIV ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="x155.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.html" ACCESSKEY="H" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="install.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" >How can I use VideoLAN ?</TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="intro.html" ACCESSKEY="U" >Up</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Install the required software and hardware</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >