Basic Commands

Question 1

How to display Disk Utility attached disks?

Answer 1

diskutier list

Question 2

How to restart the Finder?

Answer 2

killall Finder

Question 3

Command to make Mac speak?

Answer 3

say “Hi, Terminal says hello.”

Question 4

Keep Mac from falling asleep.

Answer 4

caffeinated

-t (number of seconds)

Question 5

Print CML history to screen?

Answer 5

history

-c (will clear history list)

Question 6

Set root password.

Answer 6

sudo passwd root

Question 7

Log-in as super user or root?

Answer 7

su or sudo -s

Question 8

Change directory

Answer 8

cd /applications

Question 9

Change to another volume

Answer 9

cd /volumes/”Mac OS X”

spaces need quotes

Question 10

Remove or delete a file

Answer 10

rm

Question 11

Remove a file in a different directory?

Answer 11

rm

example: re /Applications/Candybar.app

Question 12

Remove a directory or folder.

Answer 12

rm -d

Example: rm -d delete_me

Question 13

How to copy a file?

Answer 13

cp

Example: cp something.txt somethingeles.txt

Question 14

How to move a file?

Answer 14

mv

Example: mv something.txt /Applications

Question 15

Find a file

Answer 15

locate

Example: locate text.kext

Question 16

Find a binary file

Answer 16

whereis

Example: whereis rm

Question 17

Create a folder

Answer 17

mkdir
Example: mkdir directory
(it will make directory in current folder)

Question 18

Move a folder

Answer 18

mv

Example: mv folder /Applications

Question 19

Repair Permissions for a folder

Answer 19

chmod -R 755
chmod root:wheel
Examples: chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions
(repair the Extensions folder)

Question 20

Repair Disk Permissions without DiskUtility

Answer 20

diskutil repairPermissions /

Question 21

List files in a directory

Answer 21

ls

Question 22

Print Working Directory

Answer 22

pwd

Question 23

Get a list of every process running on computer?

Answer 23

ps -ax

“process status” dumps all processes with ID #

Question 24

Check if a process is running?

Answer 24

ps -ax | grep

(this combines grep with the process status command”

Question 25

Forcibly end a process

Answer 25

kill

Question 26

Find current user

Answer 26

whoami

Question 27

Get current location or hostname?

Answer 27

hostname

Question 28

Navigate to home directory

Answer 28

cd ~ cd ~username cd /Users/username

Question 29

How do you auto complete in CLI

Answer 29

press TAB

Question 30

Check powerbook standby time

Answer 30

pmset -g (standby delay will be 10800 seconds by default) chang it using: sudo pmset -a standbydelay

Question 31

Open file in Quick Look

Answer 31

qlmanage -p

Question 32

Clear the terminal

Answer 32

clear

Question 33

How do you type a file name with a space in it

Answer 33

``` escape the space with \ Example: cd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/ or cd "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/" ```

Question 34

List directory with list format

Answer 34

ls -l

Question 35

List files in a directory with hidden files

Answer 35

ls -a | combine with -l by typing ls -la to display both list format and hidden files

Question 36

Command to copy large amounts of data

Answer 36

ditto -V (-V verbose prints one line to terminal for each file) Example: ditto -V /old/work/ /new/work/

Question 37

Change Screenshot file format

Answer 37

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type PDF run killall SystemUIServer to see changes to revert defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png

Question 38

Change Screenshot location

Answer 38

$ defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /drag/location/here then:: killall SystemUIServer

Question 39

Run a system stress test

Answer 39

yes | type Ctrl-C to stop

Question 40

View file system usage

Answer 40

``` sudo fs_usage (type Ctrl-C to stop) ```

Question 41

View contents of any files

Answer 41

cat /path/to/file

Question 42

Rebuild Spotlight index for a drive.

Answer 42

sudo mdutil -E /Volumes/DriveName | this will delete the index and auto-rebuild

Question 43

Check the uptime of you mac

Answer 43

uptime

Question 44

Open file in any application

Answer 44

open -a /Application/AppName.app /path/to/file.txt

Question 45

List and install OS X software updates

Answer 45

sudo softwareupdate -l (lists software updates) sudo softwareupdate -ia

Question 46

Display a custom message at Login on multi user mac

Answer 46

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText "Your Message!" (to clear the message) sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText

Question 47

Run same command again

Answer 47

!! (if you forget sudo after typing a command) sudo !! (will run same command with sudo in front)

Question 48

Download a file without the browser

Answer 48

curl -0 http://urltodownload.com/dmg.dmg

Question 49

Shutdown mac without delay

Answer 49

sudo shutdown -h now sudo shutdown -r now (add a time delay) sudo shutdown -r +60

Question 50

Create a file of any size.

Answer 50

mkfile 1g test.abc | bytes (b) kilobytes (k) megabytes (m) gigabytes (g)

Question 51

Continually monitor a file (system log, etc.)

Answer 51

tail -f /var/log/system.log | terminal will constantly watch file as lines are added it will print to screen

Question 52

Get your IP address

Answer 52

ipconfig getifaddr en0 | wired interface is en0 and wireless is en1

Question 53

Get your External IP address

Answer 53

curl ipecho.net/plain; echo

Question 54

How to test network connection

Answer 54

ping -c 10 www.apple.com

Question 55

Have the Mac read a text file

Answer 55

say -f

Question 56

Restore a disk image to External Drive

Answer 56

sudo asr -restore -noverify -source /path/to/diskimage/dmg -target /Volumes/VolumeToRestoreTo

Question 57

View all active processes

Answer 57

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