175 Mac OS X Terminal Commands

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175 Mac OS X Terminal Commands

The Terminal is a program included with all versions of Mac OS X. To launch terminal goto Applications and click Utilities folder. Terminal is originated in Mac OS X’s predecessors, NeXTSTEP and OPENSTEP, and allows the user to interact with the computer through a command line interface. By default it provides a bash shell.

Here is a list of 175 common Mac OS X commands for power users

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 [word/pattern/list]

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

df - Display free disk space

diff – Display the differences between two files

diff3 – Show differences among three files

dirname- Convert a full pathname to just a path

dirs Di – play list of remembered directories

diskutil - Disk utilities – Format, Verify, Repair

ditto – Copy files and folders

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

tail - Output the last part of files

tar - Tape ARchiver

tee - Redirect output to multiple files

test – Condition evaluation

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