This document lists the OS X-specific commands added or
substantially tailored by Apple. The list is as of OS 10.2.6.
It does not list commands that are only relevant to
developers (e.g., C compilers).
- /Developer/Tools/BuildStrings
- /Developer/Tools/CpMac
- /Developer/Tools/Derez
- /Developer/Tools/GetFileInfo
- /Developer/Tools/MergePef
- /Developer/Tools/MvMac
- /Developer/Tools/ResMerger
- /Developer/Tools/Rez
- /Developer/Tools/RezWack
- /Developer/Tools/SetFile
- /Developer/Tools/SplitForks
- /Developer/Tools/UnRezWack
- /System/Library/CoreServices/Setup Assistant
- /usr/bin/chflags
- /usr/bin/defaults
- /usr/bin/drutil
- /usr/bin/drutil tray eject -drive internal
- /usr/bin/drutil tray close -drive internal
- /usr/bin/hdiutil
- /usr/bin/lsbom
- /usr/bin/open
- /usr/bin/osacompile
- /usr/bin/osascript, especially osascript -e "say"
- /usr/bin/pbpaste
- /usr/bin/plutil
- /usr/bin/redo_prebinding
- /usr/bin/say
- /usr/bin/sips
- /usr/bin/update_prebinding
- /usr/libexec/authopen
- /usr/sbin/asr
- /usr/sbin/bless
- /usr/sbin/diskutil repairPermissions /
- /usr/sbin/dot_clean
- /usr/sbin/dsconfigad
- /usr/sbin/ioreg
- /usr/sbin/kextfind
- /usr/sbin/lookupd
- /usr/sbin/networksetup
- /usr/sbin/nvram
- /usr/sbin/pkgutil
- /usr/sbin/screencapture
- /usr/sbin/softwareupdate
- /usr/sbin/systemsetup
and
- netinfod(8) - NetInfo daemon
- nibindd(8) - NetInfo binder
- nicl(1) - NetInfo command line utility
- nidomain(8) - NetInfo domain utility
- nidump(8) - extract text or flat-file-format data from NetInfo
- nifind(1) - find a directory in the NetInfo hierarchy
- nigrep(1) - search for a regular expression in the NetInfo hierarchy
- niload(8) - load text or flat-file-format data into NetInfo
- nireport(1) - print tables from the NetInfo hierarchy
- niutil(1) - NetInfo utility
Please send additions/changes to me. I am Craig A. Finseth.
Spotlight Commands
- mdfind
- mdls
- mdimport
- mdutil
Unix Commands
If you aren't familiar with Unix but can find a use for the above,
you will probably want to be aware of these standard Unix commands:
- alias
- bless
- find
- man
- sudo
- whereis
AppleScript Debugging Environment Variables
Do the following from a Terminal command line for a csh or tcsh:
- setenv AEDebug 1
- setenv AEDebugSends 1
- setenv AEDebugReceives 1
Or do this for a sh, ksh, or bash shell:
- export AEDebug=1
- export AEDebugSends=1
- export AEDebugReceives=1
Note that the default Terminal shell for OS X 10.0 through 10.2 is
tcsh, but they changed it to bash starting with 10.3.
Safari Debug Menu
Enable by entering this command from a Terminal command line:
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1
and disable by:
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 0
Speed Up Sheets
defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSWindowResizeTime time
where time is a time in seconds from, say, .001 to 2.
Set Default Umask
defaults write /Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences NSUmask #
defaults write -g NSUmask -int #
The first sets the global, system default and the second sets the
per-user default. The NSUmask may not be honored by software that has
not been adapted for OS X. # is the umask (per
umask(2)). It may, however, be in decimal instead of
octal.
Set Login Window "MOTD" Text
Edit:
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist
Between the <dict>/</dict> tags,
insert a <key>...</key> and
<string>...</string> pair as:
<dict>
...
<key>LoginwindowText</key>
<string>MOTD TEXT</string>
...
</dict>