Question

Mac: Terminal commands for easier work

Answer 1

The basic operation of the terminal
Helpful terminal commands

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We'll show you the commands you can use to save yourself additional work steps in the Mac terminal..

Those who are familiar with the Mac terminal often shy away from the surface reduced to text and fear that they might have to program right away. But don't worry: commands for the text-based user interface are understandable even without in-depth IT knowledge and lead to improved work on your Mac. We'll show you how to use Terminal commands.

• The basic operation of the terminal
• Helpful terminal commands

The basic operation of the terminal

After launching Terminal on your Mac, you'll only see the Mac's name. You can start entering commands. To delete a line immediately, you can use the key combination [Ctrl] + [K] . It is also possible to jump either with [Ctrl] + [A] to the beginning of a line or with [Ctrl] + [E] to jump to the end of a line. Using the arrow keys up and down , you can switch back and forth between the individual commands.

To find out the current directory you are in at this point in time, type " pwd " and then press Enter . Terminal then delivers the complete path. There are shortcuts for folders that you change frequently to speed up the writing process. The root directory of the hard disk is shown with a slash , for example , the tilde - generated by the key combination [Alt] + [N] - brings you to your home directory . How you can then switch to subfolders and which other useful commands are available can be read in the following section..

Helpful terminal commands

command	description	example
CD	Change Directory - changes to a subfolder	cd directory Example: cd / Users / Documents / ... Directories (called "directory" in Terminal) are separated by a "/".
pwd	Print Working Directory - shows the current directory	pwd directory
ls	List - shows the contents of a folder	ls directory example: ls -a also shows invisible files
cp	Copy - copies file	cp path / source folder path / target folder Example: cp ~ / Documents / Artikel.txt ~ / Desktop / Pay attention to the path to the source folder (in the example "~ / Documents /") and the path to the target folder (in the example "~ / Desktop / "). The same applies to the move command.
mv	Move - moves a file	mv path / source folder path / target folder Example: mv ~ / Documents / Article.txt ~ / Desktop /
rm	Remove - deletes files. Differentiation between folders and files.	File: rm Path / File Example: rm ~ / Documents / Article.text Folder: rmdir -R ~ / Documents / Delete Example: rmdir -R ~ / Documents / Delete
mkdir	Make Directory - creates a new folder	mkdir "folder name " Example: mkdir " new folder "
kill	Terminates the specified process	kill process name example: kill cp ~ / Documents / Article.txt ~ / Desktop /
see below	Switch User - switches to the specified user	su username example: su admin
Wildcards	apply single terminal commands to multiple files	Any character string: * Example: mv * .png ./PNGs (moves all files with the extension .png to the PNGs folder) Any single character:? Example: mv? .Png ./PNGs (only file names with exactly one character as the file name are moved to the PNGs folder)
wer bin ich	Display of the current user	wer bin ich
date	Display of the current date	date
screencapture	Creates a screenshot	screencapture
find	Search function for files	find / directory / filename Example: find / home / picture1.jpeg
what is	Brief information about the specified command	what is

command	description	example
CD	Change Directory - changes to a subfolder	cd directory Example: cd / Users / Documents / ... Directories (called "directory" in Terminal) are separated by a "/".
pwd	Print Working Directory - shows the current directory	pwd directory
ls	List - shows the contents of a folder	ls directory example: ls -a also shows invisible files
cp	Copy - copies file	cp Pfad/Quellordner Pfad/Zielordner Beispiel: cp ~/Documents/Artikel.txt ~/Desktop/ Achten Sie darauf den Pfad zum Quellordner (im Beispiel "~/Documents/") und den Pfad zum Ziel-Ordner (im Beispiel "~/Desktop/") anzugeben. Das Gleiche gilt auch für den Move-Befehl.
mv	Move - verschiebt eine Datei	mv Pfad/Quellordner Pfad/Zielordner Beispiel: mv ~/Documents/Artikel.txt ~/Desktop/
rm	Remove - löscht Dateien. Unterscheidung zwischen Ordnern und Dateien.	Datei: rm Pfad/Datei Beispiel: rm ~/Documents/Artikel.text Ordner: rmdir -R ~/Documents/Löschen Beispiel: rmdir -R ~/Documents/Löschen
mkdir	Make Directory - erzeugt einen neuen Ordner	mkdir "Ordnerbezeichnung " Beispiel: mkdir "NeuerOrdner "
kill	Beendert den angegebenen Prozesse	kill Prozessname Beispiel: kill cp ~/Documents/Artikel.txt ~/Desktop/
su	Switch User - wechselt zum angegebenen Benutzer	su Benutzername Beispiel: su Admin
Wildcards	einzelne Terminal-Befehle auf mehrere Dateien anwenden	Beliebige Zeichenkette: * Beispiel: mv *.png ./PNGs (verschiebt alle Dateien mit der Endung .png in den Ordner PNGs) Einzelnes beliebiges Zeichen: ? Beispiel: mv ?.png ./PNGs (nur Dateinamen mit exakt einem Zeichen als Dateiname werden in den Ordner PNGs verschoben)
whoami	Anzeige des aktuellen Benutzers	whoami
date	Anzeige des aktuellen Datums	date
screencapture	Erzeugt Screenshot	screencapture
find	Suchfunktion für Dateien	find /Verzeichnis/Dateiname Beispiel: find/home/bild1.jpeg
whatis	Kurzinfo zum angegebenen Befehl	whatis

Tip: We have summarized helpful shortcuts on the Mac for you here.

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