We also touched on the basics of cd, so here’s a few tricks you can try out. The -t flag sorts files by the time they were modified, with the most recently modified file displayed first. macOS’s HFS+ file system uses ACLs to attach advanced file system attributes to files and folders. The -e flag shows the Access Control Lists, or ACLs, associated with a file. The -h flag shows file sizes in a “human readable” format, using units like kilobytes instead of block size. To quickly run more than one flag at once, list them one after another, prepended by a single dash. Like all the commands below, the -S flag needs to be run with the -l flag to work. The -S flag sorts long format output by file size. The -l flag returns the results in “long format,” which includes crucial information like file size, modification date, permissions and so on. The -a flag lists all the contents of directory, including hidden files. We’ve covered ls‘s basic operation already, so here’s a few more advanced flags. Ls, or list, reports information about the working directory’s contents. You’ll spend a lot of time in Terminal moving between directories using cd and examining their contents using ls. Use with caution! macOS Terminal Commands: Viewing & Navigating Directories f: force a command to run, disabling confirmation dialogs. Useful for applying per-file commands like chmod to whole folders.
![command line for mac directory command line for mac directory](https://www.mutface.com/wp-content/uploads/adobe_indesign_cc.png)
r: recursive mode, which causes the command to run itself repeatedly over the contents of a directory or other set of inputs. Useful for debugging problematic programs or monitoring long-running commands. v: verbose mode, which causes the command to narrate its actions. A few frequent flyer flags are featured further down:
![command line for mac directory command line for mac directory](https://code2care.org/macos/delete-directory-using-mac-terminal-rm-rmdir-command/images/Directory%20is%20not%20empty.png)
These flags change the way the command operates, adjusting functionality or toggling different features. Flagsįlags are options appended to commands and preceded by one or two dashes ( – ). It will send the output of one command, like ls, to another command, like rm.
#COMMAND LINE FOR MAC DIRECTORY ISO#
This symbol, called a pipe, is found above the Enter key on US keyboards or next to the left Shift key on ISO keyboards. If the file doesn’t exist yet, it will be created. For example, ls > filelist.txt will send the output of ls to a text file called filelist.txt located in your current working directory. And get really excited about it! >Ĭalled a “redirect,” the caret sends the output of your command to a file (AKA “file output”) instead of the Terminal window (AKA “standard output”). Run the last command again, but this time with administrator privileges. Just press Enter when done to execute the command. When you do, the input cursor won’t move, but the keystrokes will be captured. It also gives you the power to break things very badly, so don’t use sudo unless you know what you’re doing.Īfter you use sudo, you’ll need to enter your administrator password. Instead, it gives the command it’s partnered with superpowers. When you type sudo before a command, the command will be run with administrator privileges, giving you the power to do things you won’t normally do. Sudo stands for “super user do,” and it doesn’t do anything on its own. Modifiers adjust existing commands to make them do more things, or do things differently than they might normally.
![command line for mac directory command line for mac directory](https://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/better-terminal-ui.jpg)
It’s a universal symbol for “command prompt,” but it’s not part of the command itself. Remember that the tilde ( ~ ) represents the current user’s home directory and the forward slash ( / ) alone represents your boot drive.Īlso note that, when using the commands below, you should omit the dollar sign ($).
![command line for mac directory command line for mac directory](https://www.howtogeek.com/thumbcache/2/200/8df62cb6abb06b8fb06dc6179543b029/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/m-wifi.png)
You can see your current working directory to the right of the colon at command prompt. If a command does care about the working directory (like ls, for example), you’ll need to run that command from within the appropriate working directory. Some commands are performed within the working directory, and other commands don’t care about it at all. The working directory, as we covered previously, is the directory Terminal is currently using as “home base.” You change your working directory with cd, and it’s the point from which all file path references are calculated. Hacking the Mainframe: Getting Acquaintedīefore we get started, let’s talk about the working directory.
#COMMAND LINE FOR MAC DIRECTORY HOW TO#
If Terminal is brand new for you, start here. Once you know how to launch Terminal and input commands, you can come back here to expand your knowledge. This can make learning Terminal tricky, and not a little bit daunting. Fortunately there’s nothing to be anxious about: great power is at your fingertips, and you need only learn the right macOS Terminal commands. But while it gives users more power, it also ditches the graphical interface we all know and love. Terminal, sometimes called the command line interface or CLI, is a text-based program for interacting with your computer’s deepest levels.