There was a time was that Mac users would stare blankly or visibly shudder when the words ‘command line interface’ were uttered. But with Mac OS X being a Unix variant, Apple bundled Terminal right from the start, enabling Mac users to geek out as much as their PC-based colleagues.
Although you can replicate the results or functionality offered by most Terminal commands via various bits of freeware and shareware, it’s simpler to fire up the command line and paste in a handy command. Below are my favorites, centering on workflow efficiency and system streamlining and improvements.
* Note: If Terminal becomes a mess at any point, ‘clear’ removes everything from the current window or tab.
Terminal commands to tweak your system
Starting with the system itself, here are four workflow-orientated tips:
1. Kill a process
killall (process name)
If a process is misbehaving or needs a restart, use the above command. For example, ‘killall Finder’ restarts Finder. Note that process names are case-sensitive.
2. Show hidden files
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles true
This shows hidden files in Finder. Take care to not trash something you shouldn’t. Replace ‘true’ with ‘false’ to put things back to normal.
3. Force expanded dialogs
defaults write -g NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -boolean true
defaults write -g PMPrintingExpandedStateForPrint -boolean true
These commands force expanded dialog boxes for saving (top) and printing (bottom), if an app doesn’t already have a custom setting. Use ‘false’ to reverse the commands.
4. Declutter your ‘Open With’ menu
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
The ‘Open With’ menu often gets full of junk. The above command, which must be pasted/typed as a single line, clears it out and starts again.
Terminal commands to tweak the Dock
The commands below can help to improve your Dock and Stacks. When you’re done inputting commands, restart the Dock with ‘killall Dock’.
5. Make the Dock 2D
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean yes
Switch ‘yes’ to ‘no’ if you go temporarily insane and hanker for reflective ‘glass’.
6. Make hidden app Dock icons semi-transparent
defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -boolean yes
This turns Dock icons of hidden apps slightly transparent, making hidden apps easier to spot. Again, ‘no’ reverses this.
7. Make Dock app icons spring-loaded
defaults write com.apple.dock enable-spring-load-actions-on-all-items -boolean yes
Dock stacks are spring-loaded, but app Dock icons aren’t. To change this, use the above command. This unhides and focuses an app when you hover an item over its icon.
8. Turn on stacks highlights
defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilte-stack -boolean yes
When a stack is set to ‘Display as Stack’, a highlight appears behind icons when you navigate using the keyboard. The above command forces the highlight to appear when using the mouse also.
9. Create recent-item stacks
defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ "tile-data" = { "list-type" = 1; }; "tile-type" = "recents-tile"; }'
Make sure the above is pasted as a single line. On restarting the Dock, you’ll see a stack next to Trash. Click-hold and you can set it to show recent apps, documents or servers, or ‘favorite’ volumes or items. Run the command again for further instances that can be set to different display options.
Terminal commands to tweak Dashboard
Some Mac users hate Dashboard so much they want rid of it, whereas others want widgets to stay put when Dashboard closes. The following tips enable these things. Use ‘killall Dock’ after entering commands for changes to take effect. (Dashboard is part of the Dock process.)
10. Disable Dashboard
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean yes
Reverse this by using the same command, but replace ‘yes’ with ‘no’.
11. Drag widgets to the desktop
defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode yes
This command activates developer mode for Dashboard. Once it’s active, click-hold a widget and close Dashboard. The widget will stay put, floating above other windows. To put it back, click-hold, open Dashboard and ‘drop’ the widget. (This is fine for one-offs, but if you’re a massive widget junkie, consider buying Amnesty Singles, a $10 app that converts widgets to Mac OS X applications.)
Terminal commands for better screen grabs
Mac OS X bungs screen grabs on the desktop in PNG format. When taking multiple grabs, regularly moving them is annoying, and you might prefer a different format…
12. Change your screen grab format
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
Alternate formats are ‘tiff’ and ‘pdf’ or the default, ‘png’. Logout and back in for changes to take effect.
13. Amend your screen capture location
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location (path)
If you don’t like typing a full path, add a space after ‘location’ and drag a folder to Terminal from Finder – the location will be added automatically. Again, a logout/login will be required for this change to be made. A more likely place for screen captures is a folder within ~/Pictures.
Terminal commands to make your Mac more fun
14. Make your Mac talk
say (string)
Replace ‘[string]‘ with some words to make your Mac talk.
15. Play Tetris
This isn’t technically a Terminal tip, but you can use Terminal to access Emacs and play a little Tetris. Type ‘emacs’, hit Return, wait for Emacs to load, hit Escape, type ‘x’, then ‘tetris’ and then Return. Arrow keys and Space control the falling blocks.
Finally, if you don’t like opening Terminal and typing commands, many of these changes can be done via TinkerTool and Secrets. But Terminal is where the action’s really at for a generation of Mac users finally getting comfortable with typing (or at least copying and pasting) the odd command.