The exec system call in Unix has an argument named argv which is an array of strings. Each of these strings has traditionally been called a command-line argument. Also, when the user of a Unix shell hits the return key, a string or line of text is submitted to the shell for interpretation, and that string used to be called a command line.

For those writers who insist on using the term "command line" to mean avoiding pointing devices and doing everything through a terminal-emulation application, please tell me what term I should switch to to refer to the elements of argv or to refer to a string submitted to a Unix shell. I want a term that does not through endless repetition on HN and other forums leave the reader with the impression that the terminal-emulation app (or the Linux console) is my preferred interface to my computer.

Suppose for example that TextMate or Atom on OS X or Linux is my preferred programming environment and that from my preferred programming environment, I frequently run programs like grep, dict and ping -- with the output from those programs collected by and presented to the user by a TextMate or Atom extension. grep, dict and ping adhere to certain conventions, such as flags or switches that start with a hyphen, and the convention of writing ordinary output to a file descriptor named stdout while writing notifications of abnormal conditions to stderr. What term should I use to refer to those conventions?