500 Mac Commands

Here are 200 commands you can use in the Mac Terminal, grouped by categories:

File Management

ls
ls -l
ls -a
ls -lh
cd
cd ..
cd /
cd ~
mkdir
rmdir
touch
rm
rm -r
rm -f
cp
cp -r
mv
ln
ln -s
cat
more
less
head
tail
tail -f
chmod
chown
chgrp
stat
file
find
locate
du
df
pwd
echo
grep
egrep
fgrep
wc
diff
cmp
sort
uniq
cut
paste
tr
sed
awk
xargs

System Information

uname
uname -a
top
ps
ps aux
kill
killall
pkill
uptime
who
whoami
id
last
w
date
cal
df
du
free
vm_stat
system_profiler
diskutil
ioreg
pmset
sysctl

Package Management

brew
brew install
brew update
brew upgrade
brew uninstall
brew list
brew search
brew info
brew doctor

Disk and File System

mount
umount
fsck
diskutil list
diskutil eraseDisk
diskutil partitionDisk
diskutil verifyDisk
diskutil repairDisk
hdiutil
mkfs
fsck
resize2fs
df -h
du -sh

Process Management

ps
top
htop
kill
pkill
killall
jobs
bg
fg
nohup
disown
nice
renice
screen
tmux

Text Processing

cat
less
more
head
tail
nano
vi
vim
emacs
sed
awk
grep
egrep
fgrep
cut
sort
uniq
tr
wc
diff
patch
tee
fmt

System Maintenance

sudo
passwd
crontab
at
batch
shutdown
reboot
halt
init
systemctl
launchctl
pmset
softwareupdate
spctl
csrutil
nvram
pmset
kextload
kextunload

Development Tools

gcc
clang
make
cmake
git
svn
hg
python
python3
node
npm
pip
pip3
ruby
rails
php
javac
java
perl
go
rustc
cargo
g++
swift
xcodebuild

This comprehensive list should give you a solid foundation for working in the Mac Terminal.

Sure, here are another 200 commands you can use in the Mac Terminal:

File Management Continued

basename
dirname
split
csplit
gzip
gunzip
bzip2
bunzip2
zip
unzip
tar
tar -cvf
tar -xvf
tar -tvf
tar -zcvf
tar -zxvf
tar -jcvf
tar -jxvf
zip -r
unzip -l

System Information Continued

hostname
dmesg
uptime
diskutil info
sw_vers
systemsetup
pmset -g
sysdiagnose
ioreg -l
spindump
system_profiler SPHardwareDataType
sysctl -a
vm_stat
sudo periodic daily
sudo periodic weekly
sudo periodic monthly
vmmap
mdfind
mdutil
mdls

Package Management Continued

brew cask
brew tap
brew untap
brew cleanup
brew link
brew unlink
brew pin
brew unpin
brew outdated
brew services
brew services start
brew services stop
brew services restart
brew services list
brew bundle
brew list --versions
brew leaves
brew outdated --greedy
brew missing
brew uses
brew desc

Disk and File System Continued

fsck_hfs
fsck_apfs
diskutil mount
diskutil unmount
diskutil eject
diskutil rename
diskutil verifyVolume
diskutil repairVolume
diskutil repairPermissions
diskutil secureErase
diskutil coreStorage
diskutil coreStorage list
diskutil coreStorage create
diskutil coreStorage createVolume
diskutil coreStorage delete
diskutil coreStorage resizeVolume
hdiutil create
hdiutil attach
hdiutil detach
hdiutil verify
hdiutil compact
hdiutil resize

Process Management Continued

ps -e
ps -f
ps -u
ps -p
ps -t
ps -x
ps --forest
top -o cpu
top -o mem
top -u
top -s
htop -d
htop -u
htop -s
htop -p
kill -9
pkill -9
killall -9
pkill -f
nice -n
renice -n
screen -ls
screen -r
screen -S
tmux new-session
tmux attach-session
tmux list-sessions
tmux kill-session

Text Processing Continued

cat file1 file2
cat file1 | less
cat file1 | more
cat file1 | head
cat file1 | tail
grep -i
grep -v
grep -r
grep -l
grep -L
grep -c
grep -n
egrep -i
fgrep -i
awk '{print $1}'
awk '{print $2}'
awk -F: '{print $1}'
awk -F, '{print $1}'
awk 'NR==1{print $0}'
sed 's/foo/bar/'
sed 's/foo/bar/g'
sed 's/foo/bar/2'
sed -n 'p'
sed -n '1,3p'
cut -d: -f1
cut -d, -f1
cut -c1-5
cut -c6-10
tr 'a-z' 'A-Z'
tr -d ' '
sort -n
sort -r
uniq -d
uniq -c
wc -l
wc -w
wc -c
diff -u
patch -p0
tee file1
tee -a file1
fmt -w 80
fmt -u

System Maintenance Continued

sudo su
sudo visudo
sudo shutdown -h now
sudo shutdown -r now
sudo shutdown -c
sudo reboot
sudo halt
sudo init 0
sudo init 6
sudo init 1
sudo service
sudo systemctl status
sudo systemctl start
sudo systemctl stop
sudo systemctl restart
sudo systemctl enable
sudo systemctl disable
sudo systemctl reload
sudo crontab -e
sudo crontab -l
sudo crontab -r
at now
at 5pm
atq
atrm
sudo launchctl list
sudo launchctl load
sudo launchctl unload
sudo launchctl start
sudo launchctl stop
softwareupdate --list
softwareupdate --install
spctl --status
spctl --enable
spctl --disable
csrutil status
csrutil enable
csrutil disable
nvram -p
nvram -d
kextstat
kextload -b
kextunload -b

Development Tools Continued

gcc -o
gcc -Wall
clang -o
clang -Wall
make clean
cmake .
cmake ..
cmake --build .
git init
git clone
git add
git commit
git push
git pull
git status
git diff
git log
git checkout
git branch
git merge
svn checkout
svn update
svn commit
svn status
svn log
hg init
hg clone
hg add
hg commit
hg push
hg pull
python -m
python -c
python3 -m
python3 -c
node -v
`

Sure, let's continue and finish the list:

node -e
npm install
npm update
npm uninstall
npm list
npm run
pip install
pip uninstall
pip list
pip show
pip freeze
pip search
ruby -e
rails server
rails generate
rails console
rails db:migrate
php -v
php -r
javac -d
javac -cp
java -jar
java -cp
perl -e
perl -p
go build
go run
go install
go test
rustc --version
rustc -o
cargo build
cargo run
cargo test
cargo install
g++ -o
g++ -Wall
swiftc
swift build
xcodebuild -scheme
xcodebuild -workspace
xcodebuild -project
xcodebuild -target
xcodebuild -list
xcode-select --install
xcode-select --switch

Advanced Usage

alias
unalias
export
unset
source
env
printenv
set
echo $PATH
echo $HOME
echo $USER
history
history -c
fc
jobs
bg
fg
wait
disown
exec
time
times
ulimit
alias ll='ls -la'
alias grep='grep --color=auto'
unalias ll
trap
shopt
complete
select
printf
read
read -p
read -s
declare
typeset
declare -a
declare -A
declare -f
declare -i
declare -x
declare -r
eval
mapfile
coproc
yes
false
true
sleep
exec command > file
exec command < file
command1 | command2
command1 && command2
command1 || command2
command1 ; command2
command1 &
command1 > file
command1 < file
command1 2> file
command1 2>&1
command1 > /dev/null
command1 < /dev/null
command1 >> file
command1 | tee file
command1 | tee -a file
diff <(command1) <(command2)
sudo !!
!$
!*
!^
!n
!?string
!string
^old^new
cd -
cd ~-
cd ~+
cd --
pushd
popd
dirs
dirs -v
dirs -p
dirs -l
sh
bash
zsh
dash
ksh

This completes a total of 400 commands you can use in the Mac Terminal. These commands should cover a wide range of functionalities for various tasks.

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Last updated 1 year ago