Using programs and commands that do not have a graphical user interface (GUI) but are rather controlled by typing text commands into a terminal program, or shell.
1
vote
5answers
2k views
How do I execute command line scripts?
In Windows, I can create .bat files. I double click it and all lines are interpreted as if I had entered it into the console.
In OS X, what file or program do I have to use? If I want write a file ...
3
votes
3answers
775 views
How to list all available .plist keys on a certain domain application by defaults command?
I want to know all keys (property list) which available on certain domain application, as example i could list available key for com.apple.dock by entering this command:
$ defaults read ...
4
votes
2answers
94 views
Can command-line commands be made insensitive to order of filenames and options?
I'm new to Mac usage. It seems that most commands trip over options given after the file names. In linux, which I've used for years, it doesn't matter. On Apple, it does. Is there some setting ...
15
votes
5answers
15k views
How to always show menubar with fullscreen apps?
Does anyone know if it is possible to keep the menubar in Mac OS Lion visible for fullscreen apps instead of hidden until hovered over with a mouse or trackpad?
I imagine there's some Terminal ...
0
votes
1answer
117 views
How do I list the plugged memory sticks on Mac OS
How can I list all the currently memory devices on MacOS X?
I need to do this by command, because I have an Java application that needs this information.
Thanks
3
votes
4answers
899 views
Temporary files listed by lsof don't exist
I like copying flash videos for offline viewing later. I used to do this by loading the video in the browser (Firefox or Google Chrome), then running this command to see where the flash file was being ...
14
votes
8answers
9k views
Password dialog appears when SSH private key permissions are set to 0600
I installed my SSH private key in ~/.ssh/id_rsa and set its permissions to 0600. When I connect to an SSH server which uses my private key in Terminal.app via ssh, a dialog pops up and asks me to ...
5
votes
4answers
3k views
How do I take a steathy picture with my iSight camera from the command line?
Is there a command line utility that allows me to take a picture from the built in camera? Something like screencapture allows for, well, screen captures.
The reasoning for a command line tool is I ...
3
votes
2answers
740 views
Package command line tools into an automator script or app?
I'd like to know if there's a way I could package compiled command line tools together as part of an automator script or an app.
Let's say, for example, I want to use a command line tool called foo ...
9
votes
3answers
1k views
How can I force command-line arguments to a program shortcut in the dock?
I have Chrome installed in Applications, and a shortcut to it in the Dock.
How can I achieve to force some command-line arguments to each start-up of this app?
Let me be clearer, in the Terminal, I ...
2
votes
1answer
321 views
Mac Terminal: emacs-style command editing messed up
This has been a "quality of life" issue for me for a while now- command-line editing in the Mac terminal is messed up for me.
If I type a few chars, and then hit CTRL-A to move to the beginning of ...
2
votes
2answers
268 views
How do I set the creation time of a file?
I have a script that converts a file to another format, and I want the resulting file to have the same timestamps as the original, including the creation time (as shown by ls -lU).
I can use touch to ...
1
vote
1answer
111 views
Adding Mac-specific directory to PATH when home is shared
My /home/myusername/ directory is provided through a network, and looks exactly the same on my Linux machine and my Mac Mini. I'd like to add to PATH a directory of Mac-specific software in my home, ...
3
votes
2answers
321 views
Using grep on Mac-style text files
When I run grep on a text file, I get nonsense results. It seems as if the whole file is printed out but on one line overwriting itself. I read that on the Mac, text files use \r instead of the ...
8
votes
4answers
12k views
How do I start TextEditor from the command line?
I work a lot at the command line in a Terminal and would like to start a text editor on a certain file. I'm from Linux Land and normally use kwrite or gedit from a bash shell. Trying to find the Mac ...
0
votes
2answers
74 views
Regarding groff - where is the config file and will this work?
I've been reading Terminal Tips and Tricks For Mac OS X when I came across this.
bman () {
gunzip < `man -w $@` | groff -Thtml -man | bcat
}
Apparently I should be able to view man pages ...
8
votes
8answers
3k views
How to retrieve current wattage info on OS X?
Is there a way to retrieve the current watt usage info on OS X Snow Leopard? I'm using mid-2010 iMac, so I'm not looking for just battery-related apps.
Does OS X even monitor power usage? Do I need ...
0
votes
2answers
191 views
command line ps has stopped working correctly after an update
I use to be able to run this ps command from the terminal:
ps -u whoami -o pid,rss,command
But recently the RSS size returned are all 0!
ps -u `whoami` -o pid,rss,command
158 0 ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
How do I change the time format used by ls command line on osx?
I want to make ls display time in ISO format (military format). How can I change this behavior?
On Linux I knew that I could force ls to display time in long format by usin --full-time but this ...
1
vote
2answers
325 views
Rsync Backup Script
I'm having some issues backing up some data.
Basically, I have FileVault enabled on my Macbook Pro and want to backup a folder I use - however, I don't want to use Time Machine (at work, I have one ...
1
vote
1answer
515 views
“readlink” gets the original path of a symlink; what's the equivalent for Mac aliases?
In the terminal, I can use readlink on a symlink and it prints the target path of the symlink. E.g.
ln -s original.txt symlink.txt
readlink symlink.txt # prints original.txt
How do I do this for ...
1
vote
0answers
515 views
curl gives error - possibly fink related?
When I try and run curl in the OS X Terminal I get the following error:
dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/local/lib/libcurl.4.dylib
Referenced from: /usr/local/bin/curl
Reason: Incompatible library ...
4
votes
3answers
601 views
How to view man pages in a web browser?
Which .conf file do I need to edit in order to view man pages in a web browser? I'd like to use Google Chrome to do this.
Is this possible?
0
votes
3answers
6k views
How to send text with telnet in Terminal?
I would like to send some text to a port on my machine using telnet in the Mac OS X Terminal.
I start telnet using:
telnet localhost 8080
Then I type some text. Is that text send automatically or ...
4
votes
3answers
4k views
Use MacVim as standard Terminal?
I used to love the terminal.app for many reasons.
I especially liked the way I could navigate to a file and edit using vim it all in one app, without having to leave the keyboard.
But, since the ...
1
vote
1answer
400 views
using gcc, g++ outside of xcode on mac
I'd like to spend some time aside from the IDE for a bit and use command line gcc, g++ compilers.
When i use my terminal, they however, can't be found.
How can i install them?
I honestly am ...
5
votes
3answers
641 views
Updating modifier key mappings through defaults command tool
I am trying to automate the inital setup of my macbook, that includes installing software and changing OS X configuration to my needs.
I have tried to update the modifier keys with defaults, the ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
Is it possible to view passwords through Terminal?
Does anyone know how to view passwords in Terminal? Maybe by accessing the Keychain data or something? I want to be able to view passwords in Terminal with just a series of commands.
0
votes
1answer
249 views
Is there any way to change the output filename for qlmanage?
Is there any way to specify the output filename and directory that qlmanage uses?
We are using qlmanage to convert word documents to HTML, and it writes Preview.html to its temp directory. You can ...
1
vote
1answer
296 views
dd to ISO from disc drive makes unmountable / unburnable image?
I'm trying to dd from a disc in my DVD drive on my MacBook to an ISO, but the image always ends up as unmountable and unburnable. The disc is unmounted when I start the process.
I've used dd many ...
3
votes
3answers
2k views
How to add user to a group on command line?
With Linux/Unix, I can use useradd -G developers vivek to add vivek to the developer group. How can I do the same thing with Mac OS X?
Then, how do I check if vivek is in developers group?
6
votes
3answers
3k views
Home and end keys with Terminal on macbook pro?
I saw in other questions that home and end keys on a macbook pro can be emulated with fn + left arrow or fn + right arrow. Or sometimes with the apple key instead of fn. But none of that works in ...
18
votes
7answers
30k views
Why doesn't .bashrc run automatically?
I put some alias commands in my .bashrc file, so that they might be loaded everytime I open a new Terminal window. Yet this doesn't happen.
I have to select run script: in the ...
0
votes
2answers
208 views
Force simple UNIX path names for optimal us of command line apps?
I want to force myself to use folder/file names without spaces etc. so I'm 100% certain I can open and run them from the command line.
Some terminal apps which I use frequently hava a hard time ...
1
vote
2answers
242 views
Creating a wget OSX Service
I want to create a service to copy the URL and subsequently download it via wget.
How would I go about creating an OSX service to wget arbitrary urls from a browser or system wide. I believe it'd be ...
4
votes
4answers
2k views
0
votes
2answers
396 views
CLI - how can I specify a screen saver with the following options?
Through the CLI, I would like to select the flurry screen saver set to activate in 15 minutes and show the clock.
0
votes
1answer
876 views
How do I change GNU Screen's meta-key to Cmd-a?
GNU Screen's default meta-key is Ctrl-a, which is really inconvenient for me because I frequently use Ctrl-a and Ctrl-e to move the cursor to the beginning or end of the line.
I'd prefer to change ...
5
votes
6answers
2k views
How to send an email from command line?
How to send an email from command line or script? I want to be able to run the script programmatically by passing the receiver and the message.
2
votes
3answers
776 views
How to manually trigger background image change?
I have set the wallpaper to change every hour and have enabled it to cycle them in a random order. Sometimes the background image changes to an image that was set just few rounds ago and I'd like to ...
12
votes
2answers
3k views
Linux' `ps f` (tree view) equivalent on OSX?
How can I get a tree view like the one below on OSX?
vartec@some_server:~$ ps xf
PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
11519 ? S 0:00 sshd: vartec@pts/0
11520 pts/0 Ss 0:00 \_ -bash
...
3
votes
3answers
4k views
Netcat -e on Mac OS X
I'm a newbie macuser coming from Debian, and I'm a big command line user.
One one my preferred one is netcat (aka nc on mac). I especially loved the -e option which enabled to create a process that ...
3
votes
1answer
494 views
Connect to Server as guest from command line
I have a SAMBA share I mount on my Mac from time to time. I do this in Finder with Go > Connect to Server..., typing smb://192.168.1.1 into the Server Address field and pressing Connect. On the ...
2
votes
1answer
318 views
Why setting image as its own icon with sips result a blurred icon? Are there any alternatives?
I've successfully changed icons using the procedure described in an another question: Changing or setting a file or folder icon programmatically. Either my sips (or Finder) got broken afterwards or I ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
How to start OS X applications from the command line with optional arguments?
I am looking for an easy way to start different GUI OS X applications from the command line and with different parameters.
If possible I would like to add them to the system PATH in order to call ...
5
votes
1answer
7k views
How do I format a disk partition from the command line on OS X?
How do I format a disk partition from the command line on Mac OS X?
In case someone wonders why: because for some people Disk Utility fails.
2
votes
3answers
1k views
How to correctly pipe output into “say” in terminal
I realized that the "say" command can be great when combined with another command/program because it can read you the output. I tried to pipe the output from "leave" to "say" by typing the following ...
5
votes
6answers
1k views
Why use the terminal in daily non-programming life
Disclaimer: I'm a Windows boy awaiting his first mac. I never bothered learning/using command-line interfaces.
I've been looking at the Terminal Tips and Tricks topic and I don't see how any of those ...
0
votes
1answer
200 views
Printopia (AirPrint): turn it on/off via command line?
I love Printopia - this allows my iDevices to print to a printer attached to my Mac. The problem is I usually don't leave it on all the time. Whenever I want to print from my phone, I'd turn it on via ...
1
vote
3answers
246 views
How to force a diff format for TextMate?
I have this alias:
alias hgd='hg diff|mate'
The problem is that for some reason the temporary file thus created will be a .txt, while I'd need it to have the diff syntax highlight.
If I manually ...
