When you start MATE Terminal for the first time, the application opens a terminal window with a group of default settings. The group of default settings is called the Default profile.
Example of a Default MATE Terminal Window
The terminal window displays a command prompt where you can type UNIX commands. The command prompt can be a %, #, >, $, or any other special character. The cursor is positioned at the command prompt. When you type a UNIX command and press Return, the computer executes the command. By default, MATE Terminal uses the default shell specified for the user who starts the application.
MATE Terminal also sets the following environment variables: