Lessons · Network switches · reading the prompt
The prompt is telling you where you are
The text before the cursor names the switch and the mode: CORE1> is user, CORE1# is privileged, CORE1(config)# is configuration, and CORE1(config-if)# is inside one interface.
Hone is a place to practise programming. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
Half of switching is knowing which of the five prompts you are looking at. It is free information printed on every single line, and beginners read straight past it.
How to think about it
Before typing, read the part in brackets. No brackets means you are not changing anything. (config-if)# means everything you type lands on one port, and getting that port wrong is how the right command reaches the wrong desk.
Worked example
enableCORE1#, or Switch# on a box nobody has named.
configure terminalSwitch(config)#. The brackets appear the moment changes become possible.
interface gi0/5Switch(config-if)#. You are now inside one port and the prompt does not say which one, which is exactly why the next habit matters.
description desk 12The change lands on gi0/5 and nowhere else. If you thought you were on gi0/6, nothing warns you.
endBack to Switch#, out of every level at once.
Your turn
Leave interface configuration and go all the way back to the # prompt.
Console into a switch
The trap
Reading (config-if)# and assuming which interface. The prompt says you are in one; it never says which one. `show running-config` or scrolling up is the only way to be sure.