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.
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The single mouse button corresponds to 'Left click' in WoW's UI. In WoW, holding the Command (Apple or ⌘) key while clicking is equivalent to a right-click. Recent Mac notebooks include a feature where holding two fingers on the trackpad while clicking produces a right-click. This can be turned on in the Keyboard & Mouse pane of System. Press Command-Shift-3 to take a screenshot of the entire screen. Press Command-Shift-4 to take a screenshot of a selected area of the screen. If you switched to the Mac from a PC, check out the Apple Support article Mac tips for Windows switchers for a list of Mac keyboard shortcuts and the differences between Mac and Windows keyboards. To customize the existing shortcuts, or to add more, open the Keyboard panel in System Preferences, and click on the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. Choose a category in the left-hand pane, and the.
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.
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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.
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.
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
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 come in all shapes and sizes, but you turn all of them on and off, and do things with the keyboard and mouse or trackpad the same way. This Cheat Sheet of timesaving keyboard shortcuts, mouse and trackpad actions, Mac-related websites, and definitions can help you get the most from your Mac right away.
Using Mac Special Feature Keys
Newer Macs feature keyboards with a row of dedicated special feature keys marked with descriptive icons that also double as function (Fn) keys. For instance, the fifth key from the left is the one you press to open Launchpad, which displays all the applications on your Mac. Some special feature keys evoke a second special feature when you hold down the Fn key and then press the special feature key.
From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences and then click the Keyboard icon to find all the default key command shortcuts (under the Shortcuts tab), turn on those you want to use, and then edit the key combinations to something easier for you.
Here are five Mac special feature keys you can press to help you work with and switch between multiple Mac application windows you’re running at the same time.
| Keystroke | Command |
|---|---|
| Mission Control (F3) | Displays Mission Control, which lets you switch between multiple desktops. |
| Command+Tab | Displays icons of all running applications. |
| Fn+Volume Down (F11) | Hides all windows to show the Desktop. |
| Launchpad (F4) | Displays Launchpad and all the applications on your Mac. |
| Fn+Volume Up (F12) | Displays Dashboard. |
Common Mac Application Shortcut Keystrokes
No matter what application you’re running on your Mac, you can usually speed up using an application by performing a Mac keyboard shortcut rather than use the mouse or trackpad to point to a menu and select a command. The following table lists the most common Mac keyboard shortcuts that can speed up working with 99.99999 percent of all Mac applications.
| Keystroke | Command |
|---|---|
| Command+N | Create a new file. |
| Command+O | Open an existing file. |
| Command+S | Save an active file. |
| Command+F | Find text in an active file. |
| Command+A | Select all items in a window. |
| Command+C | Copy the selected item. |
| Command+X | Cut the selected item. |
| Command+V | Paste the most recently cut or copied item. |
| Command+P | Print. |
| Command+Z | Undo the last command. |
| Command+W | Close the active window. |
| Esc | Cancel dialogs and closes pull-down menus. |
| Command+Q | Quit an application. |
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Mac Shortcuts for International Letters and Symbols
When writing, you may need to use a symbol or a letter with a diacritical mark, such as an accent (à) or a tilde (ñ). Holding down any of the letters in the following table opens a pop-up window with the variations of that letter and a number under each one. Type the number, and the variation appears in your document. For example, hold down A and then press 1 to type à. It works for uppercase letters as well.
These variations appear when you use the U.S. English keyboard. If you add a keyboard for another language, you may see more or different variations. To add a keyboard, go to the Apple menu and choose System Preferences; then click the Keyboard icon. Click the Input Source tab and then click the add button (+) at the bottom left. Select the language you want, and then click the Add button. Select the Show Input Menu in Menu Bar check box. When you’re working in a document and want to switch to a different language, click the Input menu icon in the status bar and select the language you want to use.
| Letter | Variations |
|---|---|
| a | à á â ä æ ã å �? |
| c | ç ć �? |
| e | è é ê ë ė ē ę î ï í î ì |
| i | î ï í î ì |
| l | ł |
| n | ñ ń |
| o | ô ö ò ó œ ø ō õ |
| s | ß ś š |
| u | û ü ù ú ū |
| y | ÿ |
| z | ž ź ż |
Some common symbols are quickly accessed with the following key combinations:
| Combination | Result |
|---|---|
| Option-2 | ™ |
| Option-4 | ¢ |
| Option-8 | • |
| Option-r | ® |
| Option-g | © |
| Option-Shift- – | — |
To see all the key combinations, go to the Apple menu and choose System Preferences and then Keyboard. Click the Input Sources tab, and then select the Show Input Menu in Menu Bar check box. Close System Preferences. An icon for the Input Menu appears on the status bar at the top of your screen. Click the Input Menu icon and choose Show Keyboard Viewer. A graphic representation of the keyboard appears on your screen. Do one of the following three actions: Hold Shift, hold Option, or hold Shift+Option. The keyboard changes to show the letter or symbol that will be typed when you now hold Shift, Option, or Shift+Option and type a letter or number.
There are five gold option keys. If you hold down the Option key, press one of the gold keys, release the Option key, and then press another letter, the accent associated with the gold key appears on the letter you typed. For example, press Option+E, and then type a. The result is á.
Mac Mouse and Trackpad Actions
Using your Mac’s mouse or trackpad can be a real drag — in a good way! That’s because drag (as well as click and Control-click) describes how you use your Mac’s mouse and trackpad to do things with windows, icons, and other items on the screen. The following table lists Mac mouse and trackpad action terms and what they mean.
| Action | How to Do It | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Click | Press the mouse button down and release. Press the trackpad bar or the lower part of the trackpad if there is no trackpad bar. On a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad, tap anywhere on the surface. | Select an item or menu command. |
| Double-click | Press the mouse or trackpad button down twice in rapid succession. Tap twice on the surface of a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad. | Select and open an item. Also used in word processors to select an entire word. |
| Triple-click | Press the mouse or trackpad button down three times in rapid succession. Tap three times on the surface of a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad. | Used in many word processors to select an entire paragraph. |
| Click and drag | Point to an item, hold down the mouse or trackpad button, and move the mouse or drag your finger across the trackpad, and then release the mouse or trackpad button. | To move an item from one location to another or draw a line in a graphics application. To select multiple items, click and drag around them; selected items are highlighted. |
| Control-click (right-click, if your mouse has two or more buttons) | Hold down the Control key, press the mouse or trackpad button, and release. With a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad, hold down the Control key and tap the surface. | Point to an item and view a shortcut menu of commands for manipulating that item. |
| Scroll | Roll the wheel or ball near the front and middle of the mouse. On a Magic Mouse, move one finger up and down or left and right on the surface. On a trackpad, move two fingers up and down or left and right on the surface. | To scroll a window up/down or right/left. |