The Terminal app allows you to control your Mac using a command prompt. Why would you want to do that? Well, perhaps because you’re used to working on a command line in a Unix-based system and prefer to work that way. Terminal is a Mac command line interface. There are several advantages to using Terminal to accomplish some tasks — it’s usually quicker, for example. In order to use it, however, you’ll need to get to grips with its basic commands and functions. Once you’ve done that, you can dig deeper and learn more commands and use your Mac’s command prompt for more complex, as well as some fun, tasks.
Answer now Can I use my old iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) as the 2nd display for the new iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) connecting with the Thunderbolt Cable? 1 Answer Can I use my old iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) as the 2nd display for the new iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) connecting with the Thunderbolt Cable? Most of the answers here give things that Macs can do out of the box that other machines can't without tweaking. Most of the things that a Mac can do Windows and/or Linux machines can do with some minor tweaking, especially various Linux builds. The one thing that Macs can do that no other computers can is run every OS natively. If you have an NTFS drive you can use macOS’ Disk Utility to reformat it to FAT32. This is simple to do and means the data on your drive/USB stick can be read and written on both Macs and PCs.
Curated Mac apps that keep your Mac’s performance under control. Avoid Terminal commands, avoid trouble.
On your Mac, do any of the following: Compress a file or folder: Control-click it or tap it using two fingers, then choose Compress from the shortcut menu. If you compress a single item, the compressed file has the name of the original item with the.zip extension. If you compress multiple items at once, the compressed file is called Archive.zip. Unzip (expand) a compressed item: Double-click the.zip file.
Download FreeHow to open Terminal on Mac
The Terminal app is in the Utilities folder in Applications. To open it, either open your Applications folder, then open Utilities and double-click on Terminal, or press Command - spacebar to launch Spotlight and type 'Terminal,' then double-click the search result.
You’ll see a small window with a white background open on your desktop. In the title bar are your username, the word 'bash' and the dimensions of the window in pixels. Bash stands for 'Bourne again shell'. There are a number of different shells that can run Unix commands, and on the Mac Bash is the one used by Terminal.
If you want to make the window bigger, click on the bottom right corner and drag it outwards. If you don’t like the black text on a white background, go to the Shell menu, choose New Window and select from the options in the list.
If Terminal feels complicated or you have issues with the set-up, let us tell you right away that there are alternatives. MacPilot allows to get access to over 1,200 macOS features without memorizing any commands. Basically, a third-party Terminal for Mac that acts like Finder.
For Mac monitoring features, try iStat Menus. The app collects data like CPU load, disk activity, network usage, and more — all of which accessible from your menu bar.
Basic Mac commands in Terminal
The quickest way to get to know Terminal and understand how it works is to start using it. But before we do that, it’s worth spending a little time getting to know how commands work. To run a command, you just type it at the cursor and hit Return to execute.
Every command is made up of three elements: the command itself, an argument which tells the command what resource it should operate on, and an option that modifies the output. So, for example, to move a file from one folder to another on your Mac, you’d use the move command 'mv' and then type the location of the file you want to move, including the file name and the location where you want to move it to.
Let’s try it.
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- Type cd ~/Documentsthen and press Return to navigate to your Home folder.
- Type lsthen Return (you type Return after every command).
You should now see a list of all the files in your Documents folder — ls is the command for listing files.
To see a list of all the commands available in Terminal, hold down the Escape key and then press y when you see a question asking if you want to see all the possibilities. To see more commands, press Return.
Unix has its own built-in manual. So, to learn more about a command type man [name of command], where 'command' is the name of the command you want find out more about.
Terminal rules
There are a few things you need to bear in mind when you’re typing commands in Terminal, or any other command-line tool. Firstly, every character matters, including spaces. So when you’re copying a command you see here, make sure you include the spaces and that characters are in the correct case.
You can’t use a mouse or trackpad in Terminal, but you can navigate using the arrow keys. If you want to re-run a command, tap the up arrow key until you reach it, then press Return. To interrupt a command that’s already running, type Control-C.
Commands are always executed in the current location. So, if you don’t specify a location in the command, it will run wherever you last moved to or where the last command was run. Use the cdcommand, followed by a directory path, like in Step 1 above, to specify the folder where you want a command to run.
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There is another way to specify a location: go to the Finder, navigate to the file or folder you want and drag it onto the Terminal window, with the cursor at the point where you would have typed the path.
Here’s another example. This time, we’ll create a new folder inside your Documents directory and call it 'TerminalTest.'
- Open a Finder window and navigate to your Documents folder.
- Type cd and drag the Documents folder onto the Terminal window.
- Now, type mkdir 'TerminalTest'
Go back to the Finder, open Text Edit and create a new file called 'TerminalTestFile.rtf'. Now save it to the TerminalTest folder in your Documents folder.
In the Terminal window, type cd ~/Documents/TerminalTest then Return. Now type lsand you should see 'TerminalTestFile' listed.
To change the name of the file, type this, pressing Return after every step:
- cd~/Documents/Terminal Test
- mv TerminalTestFile TerminalTestFile2.rtf
That will change the name of the file to 'TerminalTestFile2'. You can, of course, use any name you like. The mv command means 'move' and you can also use it to move files from one directory to another. In that case, you’d keep the file names the same, but specify another directory before typing the the second instance of the name, like this:
mv ~/Documents/TerminalTest TerminalTestFile.rtf ~/Documents/TerminalTest2 TerminalTestFile.rtf
More advanced Terminal commands
Terminal can be used for all sorts of different tasks. Some of them can be performed in the Finder, but are quicker in Terminal. Others access deep-rooted parts of macOS that aren’t accessible from the Finder without specialist applications. Here are a few examples.
Copy files from one folder to another
- In a Terminal window, type ditto [folder 1] [folder 1] where 'folder 1' is the folder that hosts the files and 'folder 2' is the folder you want to move them to.
- To see the files being copied in the Terminal window, type -v after the command.
Download files from the internet
You’ll need the URL of the file you want to download in order to use Terminal for this.
- cd ~/Downloads/
- curl -O [URL of file you want to download]
If you want to download the file to a directory other than your Downloads folder, replace ~/Downloads/ with the path to that folder, or drag it onto the Terminal window after you type the cd command.
Change the default location for screenshots
If you don’t want macOS to save screenshots to your Desktop when you press Command-Shift-3, you can change the default location in Terminal
- defaults write com.apple.screencapture location [path to folder where you want screenshots to be saved]
- Hit Return
- killall SystemUIServer
- Hit Return
Change the default file type for screenshots
By default, macOS saves screenshots as .png files. To change that to .jpg, do this:
- defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG
- Press Return
- killall SystemUIServer Mozilla firefox free download for mac.
- Press Return
Delete all files in a folder
The command used to delete, or remove, files in Terminal is rm. So, for example, if you wanted to remove a file in your Documents folder named 'oldfile.rtf' you’d use cd ~/Documents to go to your Documents folder then to delete the file. As it stands, that will delete the file without further intervention from you. If you want to confirm the file to be deleted, use -i as in rm -i oldfile.rtf
To delete all the files and sub-folders in a directory named 'oldfolder', the command is rm -R oldfolder and to confirm each file should be deleted, rm -iR oldfolder
Just because you can use Terminal to delete files on your Mac, doesn’t mean you should. It’s a relatively blunt instrument, deleting only those files and folders you specify.
Another way to free up space
If your goal in removing files or folders is to free up space on your Mac, or to remove junk files that are causing your Mac to run slowly, it’s far better to use an app designed for the purpose. CleanMyMac X is one such app.
It will scan your Mac for files and recommend which ones you can delete safely, as well as telling you how much space you’ll save. And once you’ve decided which files to delete, you can get rid of them in a click. You can download CleanMyMac here.
As you can see, while Terminal may look scary and seem like it’s difficult to use, it really isn’t. The key is learning a few commands, such as those we’ve outlined above, and getting to know the syntax for those commands.
However, you should be careful when using Terminal, it’s a powerful tool that has deep access to your Mac’s system files. Check commands by googling them if you’re not sure what they do. And if you need to delete files to save space, use an app like CleanMyMac X to do it. It’s much safer!
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Macs are usually pretty solid machines. But they arestill machines. Operating on layers and layers of ones and zeros. Something somewhere is going to go wrong. Usually, a restart or reinstall does the trick.
But what do you do when weird stuff starts happening that you can’t exactly put your finger on? Like the Bluetooth won’t scan or the battery percentage will refuse to update. It’s time to reset the PRAM and SMC.
What exactly does that mean? Read on to find out.
What Is PRAM (Parameter RAM)?
PRAM (Parameter RAM) is the memory that stores the default values for the nitty gritty details of your Mac, the core data, if you will. It contains stuff like the alarm clock setting, mouse scaling, start up disk, virtual memory and speaker volume among other things. To see a full list, check out Apple’s support page.
If there’s something wrong in any of the code on PRAM, it can have a big effect on your Mac’s performance. Resetting the core data to its default is a great way to restore things to way they are supposed to be.
The Last Resort
You should think of resetting PRAM as a last resort. Because it has to do with the core data of the OS, it might change some settings, or reset your data. So before jumping in to resetting PRAM, you should try some of these remedies first.
- Force quit (Command+Option+Esc) all the running apps.
- Log off and log back in.
- Turn it off and on again. Not just restart, perform a hard shutdown.
- Shut down the mac, keep it turned off for a minute or so. If you can, remove the battery for some time as well.
After doing that, if you’re still facing the problem, it’s time to reset PRAM.
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How To Reset PRAM
Note: Before resetting PRAM or the SMC, back up your important documents or your whole system on an external drive.Step 1: Turn off your Mac. No need to remove the battery or detaching the power chord.
Step 2: Turn on your Mac and hold down the Command+Option+P+R keys, all at the same time.
Step 3: Hold down all four keys until you hear the startup sound twice.
The startup sound for the second time means you’ve reset the PRAM.
What Is SMC?
SMC stands for System management controller and it only applies to Intel based Macs (so you can’t use this on your pre 2007 PowerPC Mac).
Apple’s support page has a long list of symptoms that can be solved by resetting the SMC. Some of the big ones include:
- Fan running on high speed even though the CPU is not under heavy duty.
- Keyboard backlight or status indicators not functioning properly.
- Battery not charing properly or the computer shuts down unexpectedly.
- The computer is performing slower than usual and apps freeze after launching.
That’s a big list of problems. And it’s something a lot of three year old Macs go through.
How To Reset SMC
The instructions for resetting SMC are different depending on the battery situation on your machine.
For MacBooks With Removable Battery
Note: This is for advanced users. If you don’t know how to remove the backplate and detach the battery, read up on it first.Step 1: Shut down the Mac, remove the back plate and disconnect the battery.
Step 2: Press and hold the power button for five seconds before releasing.
Step 3: Connect the battery and turn the Mac back on.
For MacBooks Without Removable Battery
Step 1: Shut down the Mac and make sure it is plugged in to a power source.
Step 2: When the Mac is off, press and hold Shift+Control+Option keys as well as the Power button.
Step 3: Release all four keys at the same time. The Mac should not power on during this time.
Step 4: Press the power button to turn the Mac back on.
For iMac, Mac Pro and Mac Mini
Step 1: Shut down and unplug the Mac.
Step 2: Keep the Mac unplugged for 15 seconds.
Step 3: Plug the power cord back in but don’t turn it on for at least 5 seconds.
Step 4: Power on your Mac.
When It’s OK To Reset PRAM and SMC
Don’t think of this process as routine maintenance like cleaning up your browser cache. You should only do this when there’s a problem you can’t solve any other way.
It’s also good practice to reset SMC while you’re reseting PRAM. The process is pretty similar and if resetting PRAM doesn’t solve your problem, SMC might.
Even after resetting both, if you’re still facing a problem, it’s time to take your Mac to the Apple Store / Apple Service Station.
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