How to Use Terminal on Mac

If you have become fluent with all of what Mac offers and you’re now ready to make the most out of it, then we believe it’s time you get started with Terminal and learn how to use macOS’s command line. With the right set of commands, you can have full control of your Mac computer using just your keyboard. 

In the following post, we’ll explain what Terminal is, how you can access it, the basics and some rules you should follow, and how to use Terminal to get things done on macOS. 

What is Terminal and what can you do with it?

Terminal is a native program that comes preinstalled on a Mac and allows you to perform functions on your operating system directly using text-based communication. Known otherwise as a command-line interface (CLI), Terminal helps those of you who don’t wish to go through a bunch of menus and move your mouse to them. In many ways, it can be compared to Windows’ Command Prompt as it uses commands to accomplish some tasks more efficiently. 

When you use Terminal as your Mac’s system administrator, you will be able to tweak the most complex of things on macOS. Terminal can be utilized to open files, make files hidden on Mac, tweak your Mac’s performance, remove files, keep your Mac from going to sleep, and more. 

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How to open Terminal on a Mac [4 methods]

There are several ways you can access Terminal on your Mac.

Method 1: Using the Launchpad key

The simplest way to do it is using the Launchpad function on macOS.

1. Press the Launchpad key on your keyboard.
2. When Launchpad shows up, click on the Other folder. 
3. Inside this folder, click on the Terminal app from the available options. 
   

Method 2: Using the Finder app

You can also get to the Terminal application from the Finder app.

1. Launch the Finder app from the dock.
2. Inside Finder, click on Applications from the left sidebar.
3. On the Applications folder, double-click on Utilities.
4. Inside this folder, you can double-click the Terminal app to open it. 
   

Method 3: Using macOS Spotlight

You can also make use of the Spotlight feature on your Mac to gain access to Terminal.

1. Press the Command + Spacebar keyboard shortcut on macOS.
2. When the Spotlight screen pops up, type “Terminal”.
3. Double-click on the Terminal app when the results appear. You can also press the Return key on the keyboard to open the selected result from Spotlight. 
   

Method 4: Using Siri

Terminal can also be launched using Siri on your Mac.

1. Click the Siri icon from the Menu bar.
2. When the Siri interface shows up, say “Open Terminal”.
3. The Terminal app will now launch on your Mac.
   

Keep Terminal app on Dock

Once the Terminal app is open on Mac, you can choose to keep it on the dock so that it’s easily accessible at a later time for convenience.

1. Right-click or Control-click the Terminal icon on the dock.
2. From the overflow menu, go to Options > Keep in Dock. 
   
3. The Terminal app would now remain available on the Dock at all times. 

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Terminal on Mac: Getting started

Before you start using Terminal and its commands, it’s important to know that learning Terminal is essentially like learning a new language and there are a handful of basic rules you should know. You will be able to get your desired output only if you’re precise and careful about the commands you enter; so be wary of the characters and spaces in between. 

Basic elements

When you open Terminal for the first time, you will see a window with a white background pop up on your screen and you can resize it however you want. At the top of this window, you should be able to see your Mac username, the dimensions of the window, and “bash” or “zsh”.

“bash” stands for “Bourne again shell” which is the default shell for macOS Mojave and earlier versions. “zsh” labeled as Z shell is the default shell for all user accounts from macOS Catalina.

But the things you mostly deal with inside Terminal are – Command, Argument, and Modifier. 

Command: These are the skeleton of the Terminal app and determine what happens with the code that you typed. You can use a slew of commands to achieve the results you want within macOS. Be aware of the commands you use as some of them might even harm your Mac or delete files from it. 

Argument: This is the resource or location where you tell your Mac to apply your preferred command to. 

Output: This part of the code is where you want Terminal to show you the output. 

To explain the above elements, let’s show you a sample code below:

cp ~/Documents/sample.pdf ~/Desktop

We can break this code into three parts. “cp” is the command that executes a particular function which, in this case, copies a file from one location to the other. Here, “cp” (Command) is used to copy a file named sample.pdf (Argument) from the Documents folder to the Desktop (Output) on your Mac. 

Basic rules

Once you have an idea of these three elements, we can move on to understanding some rules when it comes to using Terminal. 

• For a command to get executed, you must press the “Return” key on your keyboard.
• You cannot interact with any Terminal using your mouse except for moving or closing the Terminal window.
• Make sure the capitalization of alphabets, spaces you leave, and punctuations you enter are precise because syntax plays a huge part in how commands work. 
• You can execute a command inside a particular folder by dragging the folder inside the Terminal. This way, the selected folder’s path is copied onto the Terminal so that you can use it with your preferred command.
• If you fail to mention the location with a command, the command will be executed where it was the last run.
• Files or folders with empty spaces in their names should be written next to the command as “<file name>”. For instance, if you’re dealing with a folder named “Sample Folder”, the command to list its contents should be ls /Documents/”Sample Folder” and not ls /Documents/Sample Folder.

Mac Terminal Keyboard shortcuts

Once you have familiarized yourself with how Terminal works, you can go ahead and start using the macOS command-line interface.

Since everything on Terminal is done using your keyboard as the primary source of input, here are some keyboard shortcuts that you may use to perform specific tasks. Make sure you have your Terminal window open on the screen before trying any of these shortcuts. 

Mac Terminal Commands

Here are some basic commands you can use to get things done when dealing with files on your Mac:

More Mac Terminal commands to get things done easily

While the aforementioned commands are some of the most basic ones you can learn, if you’re someone who doesn’t wish to learn them, you can check out these Terminal tricks that can accomplish specific tasks, some that even macOS doesn’t offer inside its System Preferences.  

Some commands have different versions for which explanations are mentioned in brackets. Secondary commands (wherever they’re mentioned) need to be typed after pressing the Return key and also require you to type Return after you enter them. 

That’s all there is to know about Terminal on Mac. 

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