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P4 CLI Documentation | 2026.1

# Start P4 CLI

P4 CLI is the command-line client application for running P4 Server commands.

1. Change to your working directory.

   This is the working directory you created in Create a working directory.

   On UNIX and macOS

       cd /Users/bruno/tutorial

   On Windows

       cd C:\Users\bruno\tutorial

2. Set the P4PORT environment variable.

   The server is running as `localhost` on port 1666. For the client to communicate with the server, you must set the client’s `P4PORT` variable to `localhost:1666.`

   On UNIX and macOS with the bash shell:

       export P4PORT=localhost:1666

   On Windows

       p4 set P4PORT=localhost:1666

3. Start P4 CLI.

       p4

   This produces the following output, followed by a list of help commands.

       Perforce P4 -- Scalable Version Control for Any Digital Asset
       p4 is the command-line client.

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