Command line interface for the Mac
The Terminal is a command line interface
for the Mac that will allow you to type in commands that access hidden features
or preferences and is quite similar to the command prompt in Windows. Be
warned, however. The level of control and customization is so great that you
can do damage to your system if you do not know what you are doing. Disabling
certain tools or settings may not always be a great idea. Despite these
caveats, the Terminal is an invaluable tool that will beeter customize your Mac
so you can personalize your experience fully.
The
Terminal is a command line interface for the Mac that will allow you to type in
commands that access hidden features or preferences and is quite similar to the
command prompt in Windows.
Unix foundation
According to Apple's Terminal page, the
Terminal offers Mac users access to UNIX through its command-line
infrastructure. OS X, the Mac operating system being employed in current Macs,
is based on a UNIX foundation. OS X comes with a user interface layer over
UNIX. Apple describes the relationship and the way the Terminal bridges the gap
between the Mac user interface and traditional UNIX commands thusly:
"OS X is built on an industry-standard
UNIX foundation. The Terminal application allows you to access the complete UNIX
environment using standard commands, tools, and scripting languages. Terminal
includes numerous shortcuts that will save you time. For example, you can copy
and paste text commands, and if you drag files or folders into Terminal, the
correct file path appears on the command line. You can customize Terminal with
your favorite fonts and background colors, including transparent, as well as
manage multiple sessions from a single window using tabs."
Unix
was an operating system founded in 1969 by AT&T's Bell Laboratories
Unix was an operating system founded in
1969 by AT&T's Bell Laboratories, according to Unix.org. In 2007, Apple's
Mac OS X was certified to UNIX 03 with the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
This means that OS X is officially certified as an UNIX-based system and all
the Mac machines running OS X are certified Unix systems. However, to truly
access the UNIX foundation and environment, with all that it can offer, you
will need to doit through the Terminal on OS X. There are other operating systems
that are often called UNIX-like, but may not share certification or be
considered in the same OS family at all. You can read more about the benefits
of Unix certification here.
The
UNIX foundation makes them useful for other purposes as well that even IT types
can benefit from.
This is why Macs are not just systems aimed
at graphic professionals or creative types. The UNIX foundation makes them
useful for other purposes as well that even IT types can benefit from. To put
it plainly, when you open the Terminal, you are accessing UNIX. On the other
hand, when you use the standard Mac interfaced and desktop in recent Macs, it's
OS X. Keep in mind that in order to get the UNIX compiler, you will need to
register with Apple as a developers and install XCode on you're Mac.
Alternatively, you will need to install XCode tools from extra/optional tools
on your Mac installer disc. XCode is a C development environment. It will allow
you to develop in C or C++. You will be able to compile programs and do many other
things beyond just simple command line options or changing fonts and the like.
With that said, let's look at some basic commands the Terminal has to offer.
Navigating the terminal
In order to open the Terminal, go to your
Applications folder on your Mac. Then, go to Utilities. If you are a Mac OS X
10.6 Snow Leopard user. If you use OS X 10.7 Lion, you can go to Launchpad and
find it under utilities as its directory is /Applications/
Utilities/Terminal.app. The terminal icon looks like this and you can actually
place it on your Mac's Dock:
If
you use OS X 10.7 Lion, you can go to Launchpad and find it under utilities as
its directory is /Applications/ Utilities/Terminal.app.
Once, you launch Terminal, you will be
shown a command line interface that looks something like this:
Terminal —
bash 80x24
Now you will be able to type commands from
the Terminal and have access to many new options. For instance, if you are a
Lion user and want to empty out your Launchpad with a single command, rather
than having to delete the apps one-by-one, enter this command line into the
Terminal:
sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/
Dock/*.db "DELETE from apps; \DELETE from groups WHERE titleo";
DELETE from items WHERE rowid>2;" \&& killall Dock
Now, if you performed this command
correctly, your Launchpad should be empty and you should be able to add the
apps you want yourself. You do this by dragging them from your desktop to the
Launchpad icon on your dock (if it is ocated there). To reset the Launchpad
back to defaults, enter this command line:
rm ~/Library/Application\ Support/
Dock/*.db
If you are a Lion user, another useful
Terminal command is to allow your graphical interface to show you the Library
folder. Apple has hidden it in the home directory by default in Lion. A lot of
your user data in apps, especially games, is stored in this folder, yet it is
hidden from view by default. To make it visible, enter this command line in the
Terminal:
chflags nohidden ^/Library
Now, let’s take a look at some commands
that are not just for Lion users, but OS X users as a whole. If you want to
hide specific folders, like the way that the Library folder is hidden for Lion
users, you can enter this command line in the Terminal:
chflags hidden /path/to/folder/
This is a general path. To be more
specific, if you have a folder named "Games" in your Desktop
directory, you would enter this command in the Terminal:
chflags hidden ~/Desktop/Games/
The folder will even become hidden from the
finder once you enter this command line. This will include other files
associated with the folder or located inside it. You can hide it further, by
excluding the folder from Spotlight indexing. To do this, go to Spotlight from
system preferences in the Apple menu. Then, click on the Privacy tab and drag
& drop the folder you want to exclude form indexing - as anything in that
list is hidden. This is how this process should look like (you can read more
about this here):
However, keep in mind that anyone who knows
how to operate the Terminal will still be able to find the folders you've
hidden.
To access the hidden folders, you will need
to go to Finder. Once in Finder, enter these keystrokes: Command+Shift+G. This
will bring up a "Go to the folder" window. Now, enter the same path
as you did when you hid it:
If you want to see a list of all the hidden
folders on your system from the Terminal, enter this simple command line:
LS/
This means either an uppercase
"L" or a lowercase "I" (don't be confused by some guides
with the I almost looking like a 1). Also make sure to have a space between the
s and the / symbol.
Conclusion
There are endless when it comes to the
Terminal it will truly allow you to open up your Mac and it will no longer feel
like a propriety OS. Apple is often regarded as a company that has a closed
ecosystem. However, for users who truly know learn how to navigate around the
Mac environment with UNIX and the Terminal, this perception will change. There
are many other commands to consider and look up if you want to truly learn how
to use the Terminal. This was just a small taste what it can offer.
