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see all files? (even hidden)
- Thread starter mf2k
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ye man,you type this in the terminal
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
you would need to restart for it to take effect
i've tried it but you get loads and loads of files that i'm not sure you'd like to see all the time,even on your desktop
to turn it off,type the same with NO at the end and restart
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
you would need to restart for it to take effect
i've tried it but you get loads and loads of files that i'm not sure you'd like to see all the time,even on your desktop
to turn it off,type the same with NO at the end and restart
WildCowboy said:
Tinker Tool is great THANKSS!!! AND Thanks for the Terminal commands but you know how GUI's are much cooler =P
SC68Cal said:
Dude, you sound like a Microsoft-loving nerd from the DOS days talking about how great it is to change directories with a "c://cd blah blah blah."
GUIs are where it is at because they entail the spirit of Macintosh-->get rid of unnecessary complexity.
I still prefer the command line for the things that I need to get done. And DOS has nothing to do with it.
spinne1 said:
Terminal commands can do a lot of things that you just can't do with any of Finder's features. Trust me, if you knew anything about commands, you wouldn't have said the above. However, I do think there are a lot of people who often use command-line interfaces for no reason. NOT having Terminal would lead to more complexity, because then they would have to include all of those options in Finder which would cause a Microsoft Office-style lack of simplicity. We'd be "drowning in features".
Edit: spelled Finder as Finday...you can tell that I wish the weekend were here. Of course, if it was, I'd be screwed since I haven't studied for finals.
Oh cool ... a command-line vs GUI debate.
I do most of my work with the GUI, but sometimes you just have to get into Terminal. For instance, if you have problems removing locked files from Trash, it's easy as super-user in Terminal. Listing all files including hidden ones is as easy as typing "ls -la". To list by modification date, type "ls -lat". I can write a script to stop Tomcat, remove a webapp from its webapp directory, copy over a new war file, and restart Tomcat (doing all that is a pain with a GUI).
But when I'm browsing the web or importing from my DV camera and burning a DVD, the GUI is much easier.
I do most of my work with the GUI, but sometimes you just have to get into Terminal. For instance, if you have problems removing locked files from Trash, it's easy as super-user in Terminal. Listing all files including hidden ones is as easy as typing "ls -la". To list by modification date, type "ls -lat". I can write a script to stop Tomcat, remove a webapp from its webapp directory, copy over a new war file, and restart Tomcat (doing all that is a pain with a GUI).
But when I'm browsing the web or importing from my DV camera and burning a DVD, the GUI is much easier.
n-abounds said:
I'm always looking to learn something useful or cool, tell me a use for the terminal that I might be interested in. Everyone who knows me considers me a computer expert, but I'd say I'm more advanced intermediate. The only useful command I ever used in the terminal was cat, but I found a script that does the concatenate command via drag 'n drop from the gui. Drop some info on us.
motulist said:
It depends entirely upon what you want to do.. if you're unfamiliar with the Terminal and the CLI, then this is a good place to start:
http://osxfaq.com/Tutorials/LearningCenter/index.ws
Like I said, I'm familiar with the terminal, I've used the terminal for a couple of things in the past, so I know my way around it, but several people in this thread said that it had useful commands that you can't do through the gui and I haven't found any of those yet. You guys make the terminal sound like it can do all these amazing things that you cant do through the gui, so what are these terminal-only things of which you people speak?
I don't know the commands but some of the things you can do in terminal and not in the gui:
-change some finder settings
-access the advanced firewall features
-quickly list all files, including hidden
-force deletes, moves, file modifications
-better control over the Apache web server
-create and break special kinds of file links (like moving your home folder)
-some people can move around the file system faster in Terminal than in the gui
-compile code in some languages, also, I couldn't find a way to make xCode compile a plain c file without creating a whole project with a gui.
-run any command line application (in the engineering/programming world you run into a lot of these)
That is all I can think of off the top of my head. Granted some of them can be accomplished with 3rd party apps but terminal lets you have the ability built in.
-change some finder settings
-access the advanced firewall features
-quickly list all files, including hidden
-force deletes, moves, file modifications
-better control over the Apache web server
-create and break special kinds of file links (like moving your home folder)
-some people can move around the file system faster in Terminal than in the gui
-compile code in some languages, also, I couldn't find a way to make xCode compile a plain c file without creating a whole project with a gui.
-run any command line application (in the engineering/programming world you run into a lot of these)
That is all I can think of off the top of my head. Granted some of them can be accomplished with 3rd party apps but terminal lets you have the ability built in.
I guess how useful you think the terminal is all comes down to what you want to accomplish. For me, I use the 3rd party gui apps which lets me quickly do all those finder and file things. I'm not a programmer so I never need to compile anything and I never run into command line only applications. I guess that's what makes OS X so powerful, different people can use it in totally different ways that work best for each of them.
There are a few things I've done recently that are much easier in Terminal.
1. A couple of things to do with creating disk images (mainly because I haven't been able to work out how to do them in Disk Utility)
Create secure sparse disk image:
Exact copy of a copy-protected Windows CDROM (I think, it's been a few weeks since I did this):
2. Permanently remove files without going through Trash.
3. Remove locked files from Trash.
4. My previous example of a shell script that stops Tomcat, removes a webapp from the webapps directory, copies a new war file, and restarts Tomcat. This could be done in Automator or AppleScript probably, but the shell script is cross-platform and usable in all forms of Unix, Linux, cygwin and of course Mac OS X.
5. Clone my Linux development environment and use its build scripts seamlessly.
There are too many other examples to include here.
Now, before you complain, I'm not saying that everyone needs to use the Terminal. 90+% of users don't have to. I'm happy to have the choice.
1. A couple of things to do with creating disk images (mainly because I haven't been able to work out how to do them in Disk Utility)
Create secure sparse disk image:
Code:
hdiutil create SecureSparse -size 5g -encryption -type SPARSE -fs HFS+ -volname ImageNameExact copy of a copy-protected Windows CDROM (I think, it's been a few weeks since I did this):
Code:
hdiutil makehybrid -o copy.iso /Volumes/Original2. Permanently remove files without going through Trash.
3. Remove locked files from Trash.
4. My previous example of a shell script that stops Tomcat, removes a webapp from the webapps directory, copies a new war file, and restarts Tomcat. This could be done in Automator or AppleScript probably, but the shell script is cross-platform and usable in all forms of Unix, Linux, cygwin and of course Mac OS X.
5. Clone my Linux development environment and use its build scripts seamlessly.
There are too many other examples to include here.
Now, before you complain, I'm not saying that everyone needs to use the Terminal. 90+% of users don't have to. I'm happy to have the choice.
Well, one quick and good example is I can ssh into a remote Mac and update the OS via software update. I don't need VPC, I don't need any 3rd party clients, I don't need to log the current user out, all I need to do is ssh in and use the requisite commands. I also prefer shell scripting over AppleScripting. I prefer to read my logs (and remote ones) via the CLI. I prefer grep and find over Spotlight and Find via the Finder. It's just faster. Most often I use the command line for troubleshooting issues remotely. AFAIK, there's no GUIfied apps that allow for lsof or fs_usage.
Sure there's GUIfied utils that do 90% of what the command line allows, but to use the GUIfied apps, one has to have access to the GUI and the overhead that it requires.
Anyway, it's all about how you want to work. For me, the command line is there to be used and I use it.
Sure there's GUIfied utils that do 90% of what the command line allows, but to use the GUIfied apps, one has to have access to the GUI and the overhead that it requires.
Anyway, it's all about how you want to work. For me, the command line is there to be used and I use it.
motulist said:
How about one of the most important commands?
fsck
Go Terminal!
Actually, I usually use a GUI if available and easy to use, but sometimes using CLI (Terminal) comes in handy. For example, I can ssh to my mini at home and then run software updater from the command line. Then when I get home from work to enjoy my Mac, its already up to date! I would use VNC, buts its SLOW. I could use Remote Desktop, buts its $$$.
Its not an either/or situation, its a productivity thing for me...I can be more productive in some cases simply using Terminal...