Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition

Terminal's Window Preferences

Like most applications, Terminal has a Preferences command. Among other things, it's one way to switch from bash to a different shell. (Turn on "Execute this command" and then type /bin/bash for bash, or /bin/csh for tsch. Then open a new Terminal window.)

However, you'll access most of Terminal's settings from the Terminal→Window Settings command instead; the Terminal Inspector window opens. If you spend endless hours staring at the Terminal screen, as most Unix junkies do, you'll eventually be grateful for the preference settings that let you control how Terminal looks and acts.

Most of the options here are self-explanatory, but here are a few worth noting.

Window Settings

When you choose Terminal→Window Settings, the Terminal Inspector window appears (Figure 16-8).

Tip

Changes you make in the Terminal Inspector window affect only the active window, so that you can change each open window independently. Clicking Use Settings as Default, on the other hand, applies the changes to the active window and all subsequent Terminal windows you open.

Using the pop-up menu at the top, you can choose any of the following panels:

Shell

When you're finished fooling around in Terminal, you end your session either by closing the window, or more properly, by typing exit (or pressing Control-D) at the prompt. The "When the Shell Exits" setting determines what happens when you do that.

Processes

Shell commands can take some time to complete. In some cases, when you attempt to ...