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macOS Terminal Commands

Useful macOS-specific terminal commands that go beyond standard Unix/bash — things built into macOS or only available on Darwin-based systems.

Related

For standard Unix commands that also work on macOS, see Linux. For modern CLI productivity tools, see Linux CLI Tools.

Text-to-Speech​

say​

Makes your Mac speak the entered text out loud using the built-in text-to-speech engine.

say "Hello, world"
say "Build complete" && open .   # announce when a task finishes

System Info & Utilities​

Wi-Fi Password Retrieval​

Retrieves the saved password for a specific Wi-Fi network from the macOS Keychain.

security find-generic-password -wa "Wi-Fi Network Name"

pbcopy & pbpaste​

Copy command output to your clipboard, or paste clipboard contents into a command.

cat file.txt | pbcopy        # copy file contents to clipboard
pwd | pbcopy                 # copy current path to clipboard
pbpaste > file.txt           # paste clipboard into a file

caffeinate​

Keeps your Mac awake and prevents it from sleeping until stopped (Ctrl+C). Useful when running long tasks.

caffeinate                   # keep awake indefinitely
caffeinate -t 3600           # keep awake for 1 hour (3600 seconds)
caffeinate -i make build     # keep awake while a command runs

uptime​

Displays how long your Mac has been running without a reboot.

uptime

qlmanage​

Opens a Quick Look preview of a file directly from the terminal, without opening the full application.

qlmanage -p file.pdf
qlmanage -p image.png

diff​

Compares two files line by line and highlights differences.

diff file1.txt file2.txt

leave​

Sets a terminal alarm for a specified time. When the time arrives, the terminal reminds you to leave.

leave 1430        # set reminder for 2:30 PM
leave +30         # set reminder 30 minutes from now

history​

Displays a list of all previously executed terminal commands.

history
history | grep ssh     # search history for ssh commands
history | tail -20     # last 20 commands

open​

Opens a file or application using its default system viewer, from the terminal.

open .                    # open current directory in Finder
open file.pdf             # open PDF in Preview
open -a "Visual Studio Code" .   # open directory in a specific app
open https://example.com  # open URL in default browser

Local Server & Power​

Quick Local HTTP Server​

Spins up a local HTTP web server in the current directory on port 8000. Useful for testing static files.

python3 -m http.server 8000

Shutdown & Restart​

shutdown -h now    # instantly shut down the Mac
shutdown -r now    # instantly restart the Mac

Touch ID for sudo Authentication​

By default, sudo on macOS requires you to type your password. You can configure it to accept Touch ID instead.

Edit the PAM configuration file for sudo:

sudo nano /etc/pam.d/sudo

Add the following line as the first auth line in the file:

auth       sufficient     pam_tid.so

Save and exit (Ctrl+O, Enter, Ctrl+X). Touch ID will now be accepted for sudo commands in the current terminal session.

note

This change may be reset after macOS updates. Some terminal emulators (like VS Code's integrated terminal) don't support Touch ID via PAM — it works best in Terminal.app and iTerm2.