diff --git a/doc/src/shell.rst b/doc/src/shell.rst
index a7646a74d2..4eb2652c1a 100644
--- a/doc/src/shell.rst
+++ b/doc/src/shell.rst
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ Syntax
 
 .. parsed-literal::
 
-   shell cmd args
+   shell command args
 
-* cmd = *cd* or *mkdir* or *mv* or *rm* or *rmdir* or *putenv* or arbitrary command
+* command = *cd* or *mkdir* or *mv* or *rm* or *rmdir* or *putenv* or arbitrary command
 
   .. parsed-literal::
 
@@ -62,30 +62,30 @@ With the exception of *cd*\ , all commands, including ones invoked via a
 system() call, are executed by only a single processor, so that
 files/directories are not being manipulated by multiple processors.
 
-The *cd* cmd executes the Unix "cd" command to change the working
+The *cd* command executes the Unix "cd" command to change the working
 directory.  All subsequent LAMMPS commands that read/write files will
 use the new directory.  All processors execute this command.
 
-The *mkdir* cmd executes the Unix "mkdir" command to create one or
+The *mkdir* command executes the Unix "mkdir" command to create one or
 more directories.
 
-The *mv* cmd executes the Unix "mv" command to rename a file and/or
+The *mv* command executes the Unix "mv" command to rename a file and/or
 move it to a new directory.
 
-The *rm* cmd executes the Unix "rm" command to remove one or more
+The *rm* command executes the Unix "rm" command to remove one or more
 files.
 
-The *rmdir* cmd executes the Unix "rmdir" command to remove one or
+The *rmdir* command executes the Unix "rmdir" command to remove one or
 more directories.  A directory must be empty to be successfully
 removed.
 
-The *putenv* cmd defines or updates an environment variable directly.
+The *putenv* command defines or updates an environment variable directly.
 Since this command does not pass through the shell, no shell variable
 expansion or globbing is performed, only the usual substitution for
 LAMMPS variables defined with the :doc:`variable <variable>` command is
 performed.  The resulting string is then used literally.
 
-Any other cmd is passed as-is to the shell along with its arguments as
+Any other command is passed as-is to the shell along with its arguments as
 one string, invoked by the C-library system() call.  For example,
 these lines in your input script: