Mac OS X Pocket Reference

Chapter 4. Mac OS X Unix Basics

This part of the book serves as a basic introduction to show new users how to use the Unix side of Mac OS X. Specifically, this section will cover:

• Configuring and using the Terminal

• Command-line editing with tcsh

• Additional shell commands, like bindkey, defaults, and open

• Basic Unix commands

Configuring and Using the Terminal

The Terminal application (/Applications/Utilities) is your interface to Mac OS X’s Unix shell. The Terminal can be used for everything from creating new directories (folders) and files to launching applications, and from managing and monitoring your system to programming and altering your system preferences.

Terminal Settings

This section offers advice on how to configure the settings for your Terminal:

Change the style of the cursor?

Terminal → Preferences → Text & Colors → Cursor Shape → (Block, Underline, Vertical Bar)

Stop the cursor from blinking?

Terminal → Preferences → Text & Colors → Options → Deselect Blinking Cursor

Change the background color and font colors of the Terminal window?

Terminal → Preferences → Text & Colors

Assign a different title to the Terminal window?

Terminal → Preferences → Window → Custom Title

Assign a different title to the current Terminal window?

With an open Terminal window, hit Shift-

-T (or Shell → Set Title). Select the Custom Title checkbox, and enter a new title in the text field.

Specify the number of lines a Terminal window can contain in the scrollback buffer?

Terminal → Preferences → Buffer → Scrollback Buffer

Set the Terminal’s emulation mode to VT100?

Terminal → Preferences → Emulation → Strict VT100 emulation

Note

The interface says the VT100 mode isn’t recommended, but it doesn’t say why.

Close the Terminal window after I’ve exited?

Terminal → Preferences → Shell → Close the window if the shell exited cleanly

Change the shell from its default (tcsh)?

Terminal → Preferences → Shell → Use this shell; change /bin/tcsh to either /bin/csh, /bin/sh, or /bin/zsh

Where is the history file for the shell?

It’s located in your home directory as .tcsh_history.

Where is the shell’s configuration file located?

/usr/share/init/tcsh/rc

Can I create a customized shell environment that’s different from the one used by other users on the system?

Yes, but read and follow the instructions in the README file located in /usr/share/init/tcsh.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Table 4-1 lists the keyboard shortcuts that can be used with the Terminal application.

Table 4-1. Keyboard shortcuts for use with the Terminal

Key command	Description
-. (period)	Terminate process (same as Control-C, the Unix interrupt command)
-A	Select all of the text in the Terminal window
-Up arrow	Scrolls up one line at a time
-Down arrow	Scroll down one line at a time
-I	Open the Terminal Inspector, which allows you to change some of the Terminal’s settings
-K	Clear all of the information from the Terminal window, disabling scrollback (this is different and more extensive than the clear command, described later)
-Left arrow	Go to previous Terminal window
-Right arrow	Go to next Terminal window
FN-Down arrow	Scroll down one screen at a time
FN-Up arrow	Scroll up one screen at a time
-N	Open new Terminal window
Shift- -N	Issue command in a new Terminal window
-T	Open the Font panel so you can change the Terminal’s default font settings, including the font family, size, and color