Mac Install App Via Terminal
The process involves a simple Terminal command, and allows you to continue using your Mac as the update downloads and the initial software installation takes place in the background. Copy the Install macOS Mojave.app installer file to the target computers /Applications folder. Enter or deploy the following command to the target system(s). Download the relevant macOS or OS X installer from Apple, then use Terminal to create a USB installer you can boot up from. Or use the OS X installation disc that came with your machine — or buy a new one — to boot up and install OS X on your Mac’s hard drive. Related: How to downgrade from macOS Mojave to macOS High Sierra. Option 2: Install Git on Mac using the Terminal There are multiple ways to install Git on Mac via terminal, depending on the development environment or package manager you have on your system. This guide includes three different options.
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.
Curated Mac apps that keep your Mac’s performance under control. Avoid Terminal commands, avoid trouble.
- How to open Terminal on Mac. 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.
- To install a program with HomeBrew, it is a simple Terminal command of. Brew cask install “app name” Obviously you would replace “app name” with the name of the app you want. To uninstall, you would type: brew cask uninstall “app name” Seeing What Programs Are Supported By HomeBrew.
- For Hackintosher: For hackintosher you don’t finish yet! To make the macOS USB bootable drive works you need to install a bootloader on it. You can read the tutorials about how to that here How to Make Mac OS Sierra Bootable Usb Drive With Disk Utility.
How to open Terminal on Mac
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.
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
Mac Install App Via Terminal Mac
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.
Apple Terminal App
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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If you’re familiar with apt-get from Linux, then you know what a package manager does. It handles downloading, installing, updating and managing certain applications and their dependencies within the operating system. MacPorts is a command-line package manager for macOS. With MacPorts you can install Linux applications on macOS from the command line.
What can I install?
Most of these applications are open-source command-line utilities, but there are a fair share of GUI-based applications available as well. Applications like GIMP or GUI versions of command line utilities like diff can often be downloaded through MacPorts after a little exploring.
Mac Install App Via Terminal Number
Here’s how it works: MacPorts hosts a collection of programs, called packages or “ports” in MacPorts parlance. Using a downloaded command line interface, you can search MacPorts’ library of software. When you find what you need, MacPorts downloads and installs the appropriate software and dependencies in the right places. This way, you don’t need to deal with opaque build instructions or confusing dependencies while still getting access to a wide range of the best and most powerful command line utilities.
Since macOS doesn’t come with many of the “standard” utilities included in most Linux distros, moving from Linux’s command line to macOS’ Terminal can sometimes be a let down. We can use MacPorts to install these missing commands, making the macOS command line nearly as capable as its Linux counterpart.
Installing MacPorts
Before you use MacPorts, you’ll need to install Xcode to gain access to a set of higher-end developer tools. These tools are required by many ports and packages, and by the MacPorts package manager itself. Xcode is an IDE made by Apple, and if you do much development, you likely already have it. If not, you can download Xcode from the Mac App Store or Apple’s developer website. You’ll need a developer account for the second option, so if you don’t have one, just go through the App Store.
Mac Terminal Program
While you can run most of the MacPort commands without Xcode, you won’t be able to run many of the packages until you install it. You also won’t get much of a warning, so things just won’t work, often without explanation.
Best Mac Terminal App
Installing Xcode Developer Tools
Once Xcode is installed, you’ll need to install the Xcode developer tools. These are a separate set of command line utilities that many Terminal commands and ports rely on. Fortunately, it’s straightforward.
1. Open Terminal from /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app
2. Use the command below to trigger the installation of macOS’ developer tools:
3. Click “Install” in the pop-up box to install the developer tools. If you don’t have Xcode, you can also click “Get Xcode” to install the application from here.
3. Wait for the files to download and install. It might take a while, so be patient and make sure you stay connected to the Internet.
Installing the MacPorts Package
Once Xcode is installed, you can move on to actually installing MacPorts. If you already have the Xcode and the developer tools installed, you can jump right to this step.
1. Download the latest release of MacPorts from GitHub. Make sure you scroll down to choose the version that matches your version of macOS. At the time of publication, there is no version of MacPorts for Apple’s newest OS, High Sierra, but one should be released soon.
2. Double-click and install the package from your Downloads folder.
3. When you’re done with the installation, open a new Terminal window and run the command port.
If that command returns “MacPorts 2.4.x” and provides a slightly different-looking command prompt, then you’re ready to rock!
Install Linux Apps with MacPorts
To install some Linux apps on macOS with MacPorts, we will first need to search for the relevant programs.
1. To see a gigantic list of all available packages, open Terminal, type port list and press Enter.
3. Obviously, that’s a lot to look through, and it wouldn’t be very efficient to scan it all. We can use the port search command to find something specific. Let’s search for the networking utility nmap using the command below:
4. That returns a few matching packages. It looks like many of them are extensions for nmap, which we’re not interested in. The first one, just called “nmap,” is the one we’re looking for.
5. To get more information about that package we can use the info command:
6. That returns some specific information about nmap. That makes it pretty clear that this is the scanner we’re looking for. We can install with the command below:
Don’t forget that the sudo prefix which will require your admin password to fire. If you’re not logged in as an admin user, you’ll need to run the process again from an administer account.
7. /how-to-change-app-icons-on-mac-yosemite.html. Depending on the package you’re installing, there might be a large list of dependencies. These are software packages that your desired port relies on, and you’ll need to install them alongside your port of choice. Type “Y” and press “Enter” to accept the installation.
8. When the installation is complete, you can run the installed port as you would on Linux via Terminal.
Conclusion
You can check out an the awesome range of ports available by searching for tools you might like. You don’t need to restrict yourself to port names: any keywords will do. Poke around a little bit (port search image, for example) and you might find something unexpectedly useful.
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