Supported Platforms
Overview of Navigating the CLI
This topic describes how to navigate the CLI.
CLI Command Hierarchy
CLI commands are organized in a hierarchy. Commands that perform a similar function are grouped together under the same level of the hierarchy. For example, all commands that display information about the system and the system software are grouped under the show system command, and all commands that display information about the routing table are grouped under the show route command. Figure 1 illustrates a portion of the show command hierarchy.
Figure 1: CLI Command Hierarchy
To execute a command, you enter the full command name, starting at the top level of the hierarchy. For example, to display a brief view of your Ethernet switching options for your interfaces, use the command show ethernet-switching-options interfaces.
CLI Configuration Statements
The configuration statement hierarchy has two types of statements: container statements, which are statements that contain other statements, and leaf statements, which do not contain other statements. All of the container and leaf statements together form the configuration hierarchy.
The protocols statement is a top-level statement at the trunk of the configuration tree. The ospf, area, and interface statements are all subordinate container statements of a higher statement (they are branches of the hierarchy tree), and the hello-interval statement is a leaf on the tree.
Moving Among Hierarchy Levels
You can use the CLI commands to navigate the levels of the configuration statement hierarchy:
- edit— Moves to an existing configuration statement hierarchy or creates a hierarchy and moves to that level.
- exit—Moves up the hierarchy to the previous level where you were working. This command is, in effect, the opposite of the edit command. Alternatively, you can use the quit command. The exit and quit commands are interchangeable.
- up—Moves up the hierarchy one level at a time.
- top—Moves directly to the top level of the hierarchy.
