[BUG]: Installation guide: `$` prompt in terminal commands causes copy-paste confusion on macOS terminal

[Salmali-Chattopadhyay]

Describe the bug

While following the local installation guide on macOS (Apple Silicon),
I noticed that some terminal commands are shown with a leading $.

When copy-pasting these commands directly into the macOS Terminal,
the $ causes an error since the shell already displays a '$' before every prompt.

As a first-time contributor, this was confusing and made setup harder.

URL of the page where the issue is observed.

https://github.com/oppia/oppia/wiki/Installing-Oppia-%28Mac-OS%3B-Python-3%29

Steps To Reproduce

1. Open the Oppia repository on GitHub.
2. Navigate to the local installation / developer setup guide.
3. On macOS, open the Terminal application.
4. Copy a command from the installation guide that includes a leading $.
5. Paste the command directly into the Terminal and press Enter.
6. Observe that the command fails because $ is treated as part of the command instead of a prompt.

Expected Behavior

The installation guide should present terminal commands in a copy-pastable format.

Ideally:

• Command input should be shown without the shell prompt ($).

• Command output should be displayed separately and not included in the copy-pastable command block.

• Terminal commands and their outputs should be clearly separated in the installation guide.

     For example, commands like:
    
      $ arch
      $ arch -x86_64 $SHELL --login
      $ arch
    
    should be written as separate, copy-pastable lines without the shell prompt (`$`).
    
    Any output produced by these commands (such as `arm64` or `i386`)
    should be shown separately and not included in the copyable command block.
    
    This separation would reduce confusion and prevent users from accidentally copying outputs
    or shell prompts into the terminal.
  

Screenshots/Videos

What device are you using?

Desktop

Operating System

MacOS

What browsers are you seeing the problem on?

Chrome

Browser version

Version 143.0.7499.170 (Official Build) (arm64)

Additional context

-Because the command prompt, command, and output appear together in the same block,
copy-pasting the entire block causes the terminal to interpret the output lines
as part of the command itself.

-This results in errors that are confusing for beginners, since the terminal
does not distinguish between intended command input and displayed output when pasted.

Tips for developers

Before addressing the bug, please identify which PR caused the issue (you can follow the steps here). If you identify the PR, comment on the issue with a link to it. If not, mention the commit hash of the oldest commit you saw the bug on (and the month and year it was made in).

Then, please leave a comment with details of the approach that you plan to take to fix the issue (see example).

Note: If this is your first Oppia issue, please make sure to follow our guidelines for choosing an issue and setting things up. You will also need to show a demo of the fix working correctly on your local machine. Thanks!

[chahat-101]

I would like to work on this issue if it is still available. I understand that the fix involves updating the macOS installation documentation to remove the $ prompt from copy-pasteable commands. Please let me know if there is more to it.

thank you

[omars7z]

hello, I'm a new contributor and would like to work on this issue. I can remove the '$' prompts from the installation guide to improve usability. Would gladly help

[chahat-101]

0001-Update-Mac-OS-installation-instructions-for-Python-3.patch

I’ve made the requested update to Installing-Oppia-(Mac-OS;-Python-3).md.
Since this is a wiki repository and I don’t have push access, I’ve attached the patch file with the change.

Thanks!