Mac OS X Terminal Tricks

The Mac is rightfully revered for the beauty, power, and simplicity of its graphical user interface. Indeed, it was the release of the first Macintosh that brough the concept of pointing and clicking to the average computer user. But in addition to the point-and-click ease of the OS X Finder, your Mac sports on of the most powerful command-line interfaces on the planet: the Terminal. Mac OS X comes with hunderds of Unix programs - and you can get them all through the Terminal. As much as we love the ease of the GUI, the power of the Terminal is hard to beat. It allows you to do many things faster than you could using the GUI - and in some cases, it even lets you do things you can't otherwise do on your Mac.

alias Create an alias

alloc List used and free memory

awk Find and Replace text within file(s)

basename Convert a full pathname to just a folder path

bash Bourne-Again SHell (Linux)

bless Set volume bootability and startup disk options.

break Exit from a loop

cal Display a calendar

case Conditionally perform a command

cat Display the contents of a file

cd Change Directory

chflags Change a file or folder's flags.

chgrp Change group ownership

chmod Change access permissions

chown Change file owner and group

chroot Run a command with a different root directory

cksum Print CRC checksum and byte counts

clear Clear terminal screen

cmp Compare two files

comm Compare two sorted files line by line

complete Edit a command completion

continue Resume the next iteration of a loop

cp Copy one or more files to another location

cron Daemon to execute scheduled commands

crontab Schedule a command to run at a later date/time

cut Divide a file into several parts

date Display or change the date & time

dc Desk Calculator

dd Data Dump - Convert and copy a file

defaults The Mac OS X user defaults system.

df Display free disk space

diff Display the differences between two files

diff3 Show differences among three files

dig DNS lookup

dirname Convert a full pathname to just a path

dirs Display list of remembered directories

diskutil Disk utilities - Format, Verify, Repair

ditto Copy files and folders

dot_clean Remove dot-underscore files

dscacheutil Query or flush the Directory Service/DNS cache

dscl Directory Service command line utility

du Estimate file space usage

echo Display message on screen

ed A line-oriented text editor (edlin)

enable Stop or start printers and classes.

env Set environment and run a utility

eval Evaluate several commands/arguments

exec Execute a command

exit Exit the shell

expect Programmed dialogue with interactive programs

Also see AppleScript

expand Convert tabs to spaces

expr Evaluate expressions

false Do nothing, unsuccessfully

fdisk Partition table manipulator for Darwin UFS/HFS/DOS

find Search for files that meet a desired criteria

fmt Reformat paragraph text

fold Wrap text to fit a specified width

for Expand words, and execute commands

foreach Loop, expand words, and execute commands

fsck Filesystem consistency check and repair

fsaclctl Filesystem enable/disable ACL support

fs_usage Filesystem usage (process/pathname)

ftp Internet file transfer program

GetFileInfo Get attributes of HFS+ files

getopt Parse positional parameters

goto Jump to label and continue execution

grep Search file(s) for lines that match a given pattern

groups Print group names a user is in

gzip Compress or decompress files

head Display the first lines of a file

hdiutil Manipulate iso disk images

history Command History

hostname Print or set system name

id Print user and group names/id's

if Conditionally perform a command

info Help info

install Copy files and set attributes

jobs List active jobs

join Join lines on a common field

kextfind List kernel extensions

kill Stop a process from running

l List files in long format (ls -l)

ll List files in long format, showing invisible files (ls -la)

less Display output one screen at a time

ln Make links between files (hard links, symbolic links)

locate Find files

logname Print current login name

login log into the computer

logout Exit a login shell (bye)

lpr Print files

lprm Remove jobs from the print queue

lpstat Printer status information

ls List information about file(s)

lsbom List a bill of materials file

lsof List open files

man Help manual

mkdir Create new folder(s)

mkfifo Make FIFOs (named pipes)

more Display output one screen at a time

mount Mount a file system

mv Move or rename files or directories

net Manage network resources

networksetup Network and System Preferences

nice Set the priority of a command

nohup Run a command immune to hangups

onintr Control the action of a shell interrupt

open Open a file/folder/URL/Application

osascript Execute AppleScript

passwd Modify a user password

paste Merge lines of files

pbcopy Copy data to the clipboard

pbpaste Paste data from the Clipboard

pico Simple text editor

ping Test a network connection

pkgutil List installed packages

pmset Power Management settings

popd Restore the previous value of the current directory

pr Convert text files for printing

printenv Print environment variables

printf Format and print data

ps Process status

pushd Save and then change the current directory

pwd Print Working Directory

quota Display disk usage and limits

rcp Copy files between machines.

repeat Execute a command multiple times

rm Remove files

rmdir Remove folder(s)

rpm Remote Package Manager

rsync Remote file copy - Sync file tree (also RsyncX)

say Convert text to audible speech

sched Schedule a command to run at a later time.

screen Multiplex terminal, run remote shells via ssh

screencapture Capture screen image to file or disk

sdiff Merge two files interactively

security Administer Keychains, keys, certificates and the Security framework

sed Stream Editor

set Set a shell variable = value

setenv Set an environment variable = value

setfile Set attributes of HFS+ files

shift Shift positional parameters

shutdown Shutdown or restart OS X

sleep Delay for a specified time

softwareupdate System software update tool

sort Sort text files

split Split a file into fixed-size pieces

stop Stop a job or process

su Substitute user identity

sudo Execute a command as another user

sum Print a checksum for a file

switch Conditionally perform a command

systemsetup Computer and display system settings

tail Output the last part of files

tar Tape ARchiver

tee Redirect output to multiple files

test Condition evaluation

textutil Manipulate text files in various formats

time Measure Program Resource Use

touch Change file timestamps

traceroute Trace Route to Host

tr Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters

true Do nothing, successfully

tty Print filename of terminal on stdin

type Describe a command

umask Users file creation mask

umount a device

unalias Remove an alias

uname Print system information

unexpand Convert spaces to tabs

uniq Uniquify files

units Convert units from one scale to another

unset Remove variable or function names

unsetenv Remove environment variable

users Print login names of users currently logged in

uuencode Encode a binary file

uudecode Decode a file created by uuencode

vi Text Editor

wc Print byte, word, and line counts

where Report all known instances of a command

which Locate a program file in the user's path

while Execute commands

who Print all usernames currently logged on

whoami Print the current user id and name (`id -un')

xargs Execute utility - passing arguments

yes Print a string until interrupted