How to Use the Terminal on a MacBook

Every Mac computer, MacBook or otherwise, comes with the Terminal utility.

The Terminal utility is a Mac computer's equivalent to a Windows-based computer's command line. Mac users can do anything from the Terminal window when you know the command for the process you wish to execute. Using the Terminal itself is a simple process, only requiring that you be able to type a command line into the Terminal window, allowing you to use a MacBook's Terminal in a few simple steps.

Instructions

1. Click the "Finder" icon in the computer's dock then "Applications" folder icon.

2. Click the "Utilities" icon and double-click the "Terminal" application icon to launch the Terminal utility.

3. Type the command line you want the computer to execute in the Terminal window and press the "Enter" key to execute the command. See the "SS64: OS X Commands" page in the Resources" section of this article for a list of the commands that can be entered into the Terminal. A few of the most common computer functions can easily be executed without the list of commands.

4. Type "open," followed by the path to the file, folder or application you want to open, followed by the full folder or file name you want to open and press the "Enter" key. This will tell Terminal to open the file, folder or application. For example, if you want to launch the iTunes application, which is located in the "Applications" folder, type "open /Applications/iTunes.app" and press the "Enter" key.

5. Type "shutdown" and press the "Enter" key to shutdown the computer. Type "shutdown -r now" and press the "Enter" key to restart the computer.

Resources

• SS64: OS X Commands