MacOS Terminal Command Bible

What do you want to do? 

Command 

Flags/Notes 

Find out what a command does 

[command]  

-h 

Shutdown/Restart 

sudo shutdown -h now 

sudo shutdown -r now 

-h -- HALT 

-r -- Restart 

Download a File via Terminal 

curl 

-O -- <URL to the file> 

Rename a macOS computer 

scutil --set LocalHostName "NAME" 

scutil --set ComputerName "NAME" 
scutil --set HostName "NAME" 

ComputerName is for a User-Friendly name that gets displayed, LocalHostName is for network-based identification (Bonjour, etc), and HostName is for SSH and terminal 
 
Changing Hostname will reset your Automate connection most likely. 
 

You must rename the LocalHostName and ComputerName in order for Automate to recognize the changes. Resend System Information from the Agent page, then refresh your cache to update. Update all three for consistency's sake. 

Get a macOS computer name 

scutil --get ComputerName 

scutil --get HostName 

Show files in a specific directory 

ls 

-a -- list all directory contents (includes hidden) 

-l -- list detail information for each entry 

-la -- do both of the above in one flag 

-ld -- display permissions of a directory 

Delete a file or directory 

rm 

-f -- Force 

-rf -- Recursively force **USE WITH CAUTION** 

Run a command at Administrator level 

sudo 

Run before a command, may ask for a password. Use with caution. 

-i -- Persistent **Always remember to log out of Sudo** 

Read the manual for a command 

man 

[command] 

Find a file on the system 

find 

Make a directory or folder 

mkdir 

Copy a file or folder 

cp 

Move between folders 

cd 

[folder] i.e `cd /usr/local/bin` 

~ -- home 

.. -- Up one directory 

Find the directory I'm currently in 

pwd 

Move a file or folder 

mv 

Quickly read a text file in Terminal 

cat 

Run an application from Terminal 

open 

Get Ip configuration 

ifconfig 

-a -- Show All 

Leave the terminal 

exit 

Find a running process 

ps 

top 

lsof 

-ax | grep <appname>  
top is an interactive, constantly updating command 
lsof lists all open files, but every daemon, port and process is a file so… yeah it works here too 

Kill a running process 

kill <PID> 

May need to be ran as root 

Mark file as executable (to run scripts) 

chmod +x filename.sh 

chmod can be altered to have more granular permissions 
may need a "#!/bin/bash" or whatever shell it's using at the beginning 

Add certificate to keychain 

sudo security add-trusted-cert -d -r trustRoot -k /Library/Keychains/System.keychain /Location/Of/Certificate.cer 

Mostly used for WatchGuard, there's a script that should be doing this automagically ((Mac) Install Client-Specific Watchguard Certificates) 

Follow a file as it updates 

tail 

-f -- follow