is it possible to open a file with commandline mate without focusing TextMate?

Question

Or if not, is there an easy way to return focus to iTerm/Terminal after opening a file/directory with mate?

Answer 1

an osascript works, although the amount of time from calling mate until iTerm is refocused is somewhat annoying

focus_iterm () {
  osascript -e "tell application \"iTerm\" to activate"
}
mateb () {
  mate $@
  focus_iterm
}

Answer 2

Preferences->Keyboard->Shortcuts will allow you to set a hot key to start terminal. You can then switch to terminal. The other way would be to write an applescript or a shell script to start textmate and then terminal.