An application that must be run from a DOS console.

a DOS-type application where there are no windows

a program that runs from the operating system's command line, rather than from a graphical user interface (GUI)

a Windows program which uses text-based input and output, not a graphical interface

A console application is a computer program designed to be used via a text-only computer interface, such as a text terminal, the command line interface of some operating systems (Unix, DOS, etc.) or the text-based interface included with some Graphical User Interface (GUI) operating systems, such as the Win32 console in Microsoft Windows. A user typically interacts with a console application using only a keyboard and display screen, as opposed to GUI applications, which normally require the use of a mouse or other pointing device. Many console applications are command line tools, but numerous Text User Interface (TUI) programs also exist.