HOWTO: Terminal’s tips in OSX

Another useful and quick post about tips from OSX Terminal that let you to save a lot of time. So just open a Terminal and try them.

• open . opens the current folder. open file.png opens the image file.png. You can open whatever you want.
• pbcopy and pbpaste copy/paste to/from the clipboard
• python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8000 starts a webserver (using python)
• say Hello there says “hello there”, really! :)
• !! runs the last command
• mdfind is Spotlight from command line
• ctrl-a and ctrl-e go to the beginning/end of the line
• cd, do you really need an explanation?
• /System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/ScreenSaverEngine -background & your screen saver as you desktop wallpaper - useless
• emacs -batch -l dunnet is a text-based game :)
• top -o vsize or top -o cpu tell you who is eating your memory/CPU?
• SetFile file -a V makes files invisible
• diskutil manages disks and images
• hdiutil burn /path/to/iso burns an ISO to a CD/DVD
• /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/A/Resources/airport -s scans WIFI networks
• atl + mouse drag is the rectangular selection
• afplay ~/path/to/file.mp3 plays an mp3 file
• sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder opens Finder with root permissions (pay attention!!!)
• cat somefile.txt | say literally says the content of somefile.txt
• history|awk '{print $2}'|awk 'BEGIN {FS="|"} {print $1}'|sort|uniq -c|sort -r gives you the numbered list of most recent commands
• sudo softwareupdate -i -a launches the software update
• ctrl + R startes a reverse search of your commands

Do you have other useful tips? Post them in the comment! :)

Source and other tips, here.