[andreas_g4]

I was just configuring my MacBook when I thought that I really have too less knowledge about what can be achieved with the Terminal.

I know there are several cleaning/maintenance routines that can/should be performed from time to time via the Terminal somethink with daily/weekly etc.).

Then I know that command to make the Terminal transparent, which just looks cool: defaults write com.apple.Terminal TerminalOpaqueness [value]

Then I knew that command to check battery capacity, but that one doesn't work with my MacBook anymore… ioreg -l | grep -i IOBatteryInfo

What commands are you using on a regual basis that you have found to be usefull? I know they are scattered all over the forum and the internet, but a dedicated thread wouldn't be harmful, I guess.

EDIT: I honestly didn't know about the UNIX forum…

[chris v]

kill.
sudo shutown -r now.
w.
ssh.
top.

I'm not a big CLI guy, but those come in handy all the time.

[Chuckit]

Now that Finder searching is all Spotlight, all the time, I find myself using find and locate a lot more.

[Gavin]

I use a few things all the time

mv to move files around
cp to copy files

- used with sudo you can handle files among multiple users

ls -l to list a folder's contents

cat to look at the contents

| (vertical bar) will take the results of one command and "pipe" them into another

so
cat filename | less
gives you a way to read a file and scroll up and down

head and tail will give you the beginning and end of a file - useful for looking at log files

tar, gzip, gunzip, bzip and bunzip for compression and archiving

top will show you what is running and memory usage in real time (more or less) - hit q to quit
ps ax gives you a list of processes

ifconfig - shows the network interface settings

en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULT ICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.1.100 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255

this tells me my IP Address is 192.168.1.100

ll /var/log
tail /var/log/system.log

[Chuckit]

You can just use less filename to read a file.

[cybergoober]

FYI - Terminal transparency can be set directly in Terminal's Window Settings (Terminal menu -> Window Settings... -> select Color from the drop-down menu) now - since Panther, I think.

[cybergoober]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

You can just use less filename to read a file.

You can also use zless and zmore to read compressed files (like the log files in /var/log that end in .gz) without un-archiving them first.

[barney ntd]

In Tiger, you don't need to run the maintenance scripts from the terminal. They are run automatically by launchd.

[genevish]

Originally Posted by andreas_g4

Then I know that command to make the Terminal transparent, which just looks cool: defaults write com.apple.Terminal TerminalOpaqueness [value]

You can also just use the Window Settings menu item... (look under the Color options).

-Scott

EDIT: Doh! I just saw that someone already posted that. I really did look at the posts first. It's late, I'm tired, etc... OK, to make up for it, check this site for lot's of good tips:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~benhdj/Mac/unix.html

[Juggle5]

More useful commands:

grep -- search through files
open -- open something as if you had double clicked it
curl -- for downloading stuff
cal -- displays a calendar
uptime -- shows how long your computer has been running
man -- gives syntax/usage for commands

vi/vim -- for editing text files (great after you get past the steep learning curve)
pico -- good for quick edits if you don't want to learn vi
gcc/g++ -- compile your own programs!

[whgoodman]

find - find files by permissions, owner, group, etc. very useful if you want to remove a certain type of file on your system. i.e. find / -name core -exec rm {} \; will remove all of the core files from your system
df - display disk utilization by mounted disk. df -k will display in KB the total and used space of mounted file systems.
du - very useful to find the files eating up your disk space. du -sk * in any given directory will give you the amount of space in kb each file takes. In the event of a directory, it will traverse the file structure and tell you the total space of all files beneath the directory.

[exca1ibur]

For me...

alias (custom profile commands)
ls -la -G (my alias for ls)
grep
vi
man
curl
ssh
sudo
> (i.e. ls > filename) Save as a text file

[alphasubzero949]

Check out CLIX. There are many, many different CLIX databases for just about everything you could think of. You can even add your own commands.

That said, my favorite is...

sudo find / \( -name *.lproj -and \! \( -name English.lproj -or -name en.lproj \) \) -exec rm -rf \{\} \;

[Cipher13]

My most used commands off the top of my head:

locate
ssh
scp
uptime
top
ps
ifconfig
clear
less
grep
awk
curl/wget
nano
ls/mv/cp/rm/cd

[Rob van dam]

Can someone kindly provide me the terminal commands for performing the crons.I want to peform them for maintence since i got rid of the app that does this.

[MiniMoe]

You mean

sudo periodic daily (or weekly or monthly) ?

[Rob van dam]

Originally Posted by MiniMoe

You mean

sudo periodic daily (or weekly or monthly) ?

Its something along those lines.Im still not sure if tiger does it on its on.I just want to enter it manually and do this periodically.

[Big Mac]

The OS does cron automatically, and Tiger does not miss the schedule due to sleep or shutdown.

[besson3c]

rsync
scp
wget (you can install this over DarwinPorts)
ClusterSSH is a very cool app

[danengel]

"screen" for having multiple crash-safe terminals in one window