# Introduction to the shell

Welcome back! In this video, we're going to discuss the Linux shell.

This part of the Linux architecture is where the action will happen for you as a security analyst.

We introduced the shell with other components of the Linux OS earlier, but let's take a deeper look at what the shell is and what it does.

The shell is the command-line interpreter.

That means it helps you communicate with the operating system through the command line.

Previously, we discussed a command-line interface.

This is essentially the shell.

The shell provides the command-line interface for you to interact with the OS.

To tell the OS what to do, you enter commands into this interface.

A command is an instruction telling the computer to do something.

The shell communicates with the kernel to execute these commands.

Earlier, we discussed how the operating system helps humans and computers speak with each other.

The shell is the part of the OS that allows you to do this.

Think of this as a very helpful language interpreter between you and your system.

Since you do not speak computer language or binary, you can't directly communicate with your system.

This is where the shell comes in to help you.

Your OS doesn't need the shell for most of its work, but it is an interface between you and what your system can offer.

It allows you to perform math, run tests, and execute applications.

More importantly, it allows you to combine these operations and connect applications to each other to perform complex and automated tasks.

Just as there are many Linux distributions, there are many different types of shells.

We'll primarily focus on the Bash shell in this course.

Let's continue to learn more about the shell.