1 Tips

If you have the full pathname of a file you need to open (for example system files given on this Wiki), use Terminal to quickly reach them without navigating through folders: type "open " then paste the path name in. Beware of terminal full stops though.

2 Unanswered Questions

Q. How do I get mouse support for command-line applications? (e.g. the w3m text-only web browser supports clicking on links.. if the terminal supports it)

Q. How can I configure the colors Terminal uses for the 16 standard ANSI colors?

3 Answered Questions

Q. Why does TerminalApp take so long to start up?

A. You probably have lots of fonts installed. TerminalApp builds a font list on startup. Remove some fonts or use a FontManagement utility.

Q: Why does my monospace font appear to shift around when I use the arrow keys to edit a commandline in TerminalApp? Is this a bug?

A. Yes, it was a bug in Mac OS X 10.1. It was fixed in Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar).

Q. How do I make the TerminalApp window translucent?

A. TinkerTool.

A. From the CommandLine:

[localhost:~] you$ defaults write com.apple.terminal TerminalOpaqueness .85 

The .85 bit is the translucency value, with 1 being totally opaque and 0 being completely transparent.

A. On OsX 10.2 you can set the the opaqueness through a menu ( Window Settings -> Color).

Q. How do I change the shell that TerminalApp uses?

A. TerminalApp Preferences --> Shell pane.

See also: CommandLine, BashShell