terminal crash
 

I was trying (fiddling)to open etc/fstab file and it looks like it is empty now (1 byte). That is all i did.

Then i open a terminal it says cant open child ....and terminal fails to give a prompt. The terminal doesnt work at all .

Which distro is this?
Which terminal (I am assuming the distro default terminal...)

If you have rebooted OK, then /etc/fstab (note leading slash) exists.

Have you tried opening another terminal and running other commands?
What happens when you try to run a script?
What was the exact wording of the error, and what exactly produces it?