Linux users who need to use the terminal regularly want it to be more than just a black rectangle where you type commands. They want the area to be as comfortable and customized as possible so that it doesn’t strain their eyes or nerves. If you’re worried that the default font size will hurt your eyesight in the long run, or the font itself isn’t comfortable for your eyes, there are ways to change that. The Terminal interface is more customizable than you think. In fact, adjusting the font size is just one of the many settings you can make for your command line experience.
In this article, we will explain how you can change the font size of the text in Ubuntu Terminal through the Terminal itself. This includes changing the Terminal preferences in Ubuntu, which we will learn in this article.
We have tested the commands and procedures mentioned in this article on a Ubuntu 20.04 system and also on Ubuntu 22.04.
Please follow these steps in order to customize your Terminal’s text font:
Step 1: Open the Terminal
Open the Terminal application either by using the Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut or by accessing it through the application launcher search as follows:
Step 2: Access Terminal preferences
The Terminal preferences let you make several customizations to your overall Terminal experience. This also includes changing the font and font size of the Terminal text. There are two ways through which you can access the Preferences view:
1. Click on the Edit menu and then select the Preferences option as follows:
2. Right-click in the Terminal window and then select Preferences from the menu as follows:
The Preferences view opens in the following view.
It opens in an Unnamed profile view by default. Preferences let you create custom profiles that you can apply to your Terminal according to your needs. However, we will use this default Unnamed profile to edit the Font settings.
Step 3: Edit the Preferences
In the Preferences view, try locating the “Custom font” option that is unchecked by default. Now that you want to enable a custom font, check this option and then click on the Font type and size button against it. By default, this button will have Monospace Regular 12 as the selected font. The following “Choose a Terminal Font” dialog will open when you click on this button:
This dialog lets you search for a font, scroll through a list of fonts, and gives you a preview of the selected font. Select the font you want from here and then enter a text size either through the slider or through the input field.
Then click on the Select button located at the top-right corner of the dialog to confirm your selection. This will take you back to the Preferences view:
Click on the Close button and you will see the newly selected font and font size enabled in your Terminal:
Through this easy method, you can customize your Terminal text and font size right according to what is comfortable and pleasing to your eyes.
