December 29, 2020

Mac Terminal command-line interface (CLI) cheatsheet

Last updated on March 26th, 2021

summary

This is the syntax I use throughout this cheatsheet:

syntax	description
$	a shell prompt
`text in monospaced font`	a command or other terminal text
[text in brackets]	an optional parameter
underlined text	a parameter you must replace with a value
[…]	a parameter that might be repeated
/	the top level directory a.k.a. folder
.	the current directory
..	the parent directory
~	the home directory

editing shortcuts	description
`Ctrl ⌃` + `A` then `Ctrl ⌃` + `K` or `Ctrl ⌃` + `E` then `Ctrl ⌃` + `U`	delete the entire line of text
`Ctrl ⌃` + `U`	delete the line of text before the cursor
`Ctrl ⌃` + `K`	delete the line of text after the cursor
`Ctrl ⌃` + `H` or `delete`	delete the character before the cursor
`Ctrl ⌃` + `W`	delete the word before the cursor
`Ctrl ⌃` + `A`	move cursor to beginning of the line
`Ctrl ⌃` + `E`	move cursor to end of the line
`Ctrl ⌃` + `T`	swap the last two characters before the cursor
`Esc` + `T`	swap the last two words before the cursor

navigation commands	description
$ `pwd`	display path to current directory
$ `cd [~]`	go to home directory
$ `cd directory-relative-path`	go to directory
$ `cd /`	go to root of the drive
$ `cd -`	go back to previous directory
$ `cd ..`	go to parent/enclosing directory
$ `cd ../..`	go to parent/enclosing directory of parent/enclosing directory
$ `q`	exit
$ `clear` or `Ctrl ⌃` + `L` or `Command ⌘` + `K`	clear screen
`Tab`	auto-complete file and directory names

history commands	description
$ `history n`	display n previously typed commands
`arrow up`	display previously typed commands one by one
`Ctrl ⌃` + `R` then `search-query` then `Ctrl ⌃` + `R` to display anterior match	search history of commands previously used in Terminal

file and directory management commands	description
$ `ls`	display list of items in current directory
$ `ls -a`	display list of items and hidden items of current directory
$ `ls -lh`	display list of items with details, with size in human readable format
$ `ls -lSh`	display list of items with details, sorted by size in descending order, in human readable format
$ `touch file-name.extension-name`	create a new file
$ `cp source-path destination-path`	copy a file
$ `mv current-file-name new-file-name`	rename a file
$ `mv source-path destination-path`	move a file
$ `mv keyword* destination-path`	move all files starting with a specific keyword
$ `mv keyword destination-path`	move all files including a specific keyword
$ `rm file`	remove file
$ `rm -i file`	remove file with prompt asking for confirmation `yes/no`
$ `rm -r directory`	remove a directory and contents
$ `mkdir name-of-new-directory`	create a directory
$ `cat file`	display the content of a file in the Terminal
drag the file or folder to the Terminal window	display the path of a file or folder
$ `find directory -name file`	find a file in a directory
$ `open file`	open a file with the default application
$ `open file -a application`	open a file with a specific application
$ `open directory -a application`	open all files in a directory with a specific application

applications management commands	description
$ `open -a application-name`	open an application from any directory (-a)
$ `open -a “tor browser”`	open an application (with a space in its name) from any directory
$ `open https://yctct.com`	open a url in your default browser
$ `nano`	open terminal text editor

system commands	description
$ `df -h`	display disk usage information of a file system in human readable format
$ `du -sh`	display size information of a file or a directory in human readable format
$ `du -sh *`	display size information of items in a directory in human readable format
$ `date`	display current date and time
$ `TZ=time-zone date`	display current date and time of a particular time zone (you can find the list of time zones in the `zoneinfo` file located at `/usr/share/zoneinfo` on a Mac).
$ `cal`	display current month calendar
$ `cal year`	display 12-month calendar of year
$ `caffeinate -d`	prevent display from sleeping
$ `caffeinate`	keep Mac awake as long as the Terminal is running. To stop process: `Ctrl ⌃` + `C`
$ `caffeinate -t n in second`	keep you Mac awake for a set number of second
$ `diskutil unmount drive`	unmount drive (e.g. USB stick, hard drive), so that you can physically remove it safely (i.e. “eject safely”)
$ `sudo shutdown -r now`	restart a Mac
$ `sudo shutdown -h now`	shutdown a Mac

CLI-based application commands	description
$ `curl wttr.in`	display weather of current location (based on IP address)
$ `curl wttr.in/city`	display weather in any city (blog post coming soon, subscribe to RSS feed)
$ `wikit search query`	display summary of a Wikipedia page