What does "Print" mean in the Computer?
To print has multiple meanings in computers:
1: to put digital data from the computer like a text document or an image into a real piece of paper using a hardware device called a printer. For example: I can't print my essay because the printer is out of black ink.
2: for a program to display text in a terminal. To output. For example: the command pwd prints (outputs) the current working directory on Linux. This term is only used for text in a terminal—we don't say "print an image in the window." This terminal can be an embedded terminal, like the console of a web browser that Javascript prints to. Before terminals had monitors, they were teletypewriters (TTY's) which printed the input and output on paper.
![A teletypewriter device printing terminal messages on a piece of paper. The messages read in all caps: CONNECTION CLOSED BY FOREIGN HOST. CONNECTION TO TTY.LIVINGCOMPUTERMUSEUM.ORG CLOSED. % % % % TELNET 192.168.251.28 TRYING 192.168.251.28... CONNECTED To 192.168.251.28. ESCAPE CHARACTER IS '↑]'. UNIX (R) SYSTEM V RELEASE 4.0 (AMIX) LOGIN: GUEST PASSWORD: UNIX SYSTEM V RELEASE 4.0 AT&T AMIGA (UNLIMITED). AMIX COPYRIGHT (C) 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988 AT&T ALL RIGHTS RESERVED LAST LOGIN: TUE MAY 7 05:11:17 FROM LOCALHOST LAST LOGIN: TUE MAY 7 05:11:17 FROM LOCALHOST SYS (text ends here)](https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/teletypewriter-printing-terminal-messages-20250326-300x237.webp)
date being executed in the GNOME Terminal on Linux Mint. Observe how the output of the command is printed before the shell prompt reappears.3: print may refer to screen prints, in other words, screenshots, which are created by pressing the Print Screen key. [How to Save an Image of the Screen].
