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terminal tip posts

Filed under: Terminal Tips

Terminal Tips: Enable "path view" in Finder

When you open a Finder window and start browsing to a folder, do you lose track of the path to that folder? If you do, the Terminal command below will enable path view in the Finder -- this means that you will see the directory path to the current folder you are browsing in the title bar, instead of only seeing the name of the current directory.

To make directory paths visible atop Finder windows, open Terminal.app (/Applications/Utilities/) and type the following command:

defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES

Once you run the above command, you will also need to restart the Finder, so you can either type "killall Finder" and hit return, or use the Force Quit option under the Apple menu to relaunch it. The Finder will restart, and you will start seeing the paths to directories in the title bar.

Update: As some have pointed out in the comments below, this Terminal command will only work with Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5).
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Filed under: How-tos, Terminal Tips

Terminal tip: Remind yourself about appointments

Got a place you need to be at 3:00? Want to send yourself a message to get out the door at 2:40? Terminal's "leave" command offers a simple way to remind yourself about your upcoming schedule. leave 0240 waits until 2:35 and then alerts you to get ready to leave with both text and a beep. Reminders occur at 5 minutes and 1 minutes before the time you enter, and then every minute after until you close the terminal window. (You can also kill the process whose id is listed for you when you issue the leave command.)

Leave uses a 12-hour clock so you don't have to worry about whether to use 0240 or 1440. Both produce the same result. All times are assumed to be within the next 12 hours.

You can also use the "+" flag to set a relative time. Say you want to work on a project for just the next hour. Use leave +0100. This sets an alarm for one hour from the current time.

Tip of the Day

To get an instant map to any address, just go to your Address Book and right click on the address field of any one of your contacts and select "Map Of." The address will then be revealed in Google Maps on Safari. You can do the same if a data detector determines there is an address in an e-mail in Mail.


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