How to Navigate a Mac Through the Terminal
All current Macintosh computers run the Mac OS X operating system by default. Mac OS X is based on FreeBSD UNIX, which has an underlying command-line based interface. While Mac OS X itself is designed to run with a graphical interface, you can still navigate through the Mac OS X file system from the command line through the Terminal utility. The Terminal utility provides access to a command interpreter and will process most traditional UNIX commands.
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Instructions
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Open the "Terminal" program in the "Utilities" folder.
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Type "ls" without quotes, then press "Return" to view the files in the current directory.
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Type "ls /path/to/directory" to view the files in the desired directory. For example, type "ls /System/Library" and then press "Return."
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Type "cd /path/to/directory" to change to the desired directory. For example, the default directory upon opening the Terminal utility is your account's home folder. However, you can type "cd /System/Library/Extensions" to change to that directory.
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Tips & Warnings
As you type directories into the command line, you can press the "Tab" key to automatically fill in the command. For example, if you type "cd /Sys" and then press the "Tab" key, the command "cd /System/" is automatically filled in.
