Absolute BEGINNER Guide to the Mac OS Terminal

[@hurbig]

Where would all the computer science students that didn't know a lot about the practical stuff prior to studying computer science be without people like you? Seriously, CS is such a hard field because there is tons of stuff University will not teach you but people expect you to know. Thank you very much for this introduction to the terminal!

[@toptechskills]

Thank you for the kind comment Herr Hurbig, I'm so glad the video was useful for you.

[@elligue]

An old dilemma, or if it is an dilemma at all? I remember when a friend was looking to hire a coupple of people to their computer company some 20 years ago. After a lot of interviews of applicants from university as well as pure home hackers the only ones qualified for the task were the home hackers without any formal education in the matter. Titles are NOT a guarantee for competence. I usually say that the world have never been ruled by so many stupid people with fine titles as today, not impliing that everyone with a fine title is stupid.

[@GiggleYohoo]

You don't have to worry much because I am a computer engg graduate and ended up detailing cars for years.Nowadays, I would say that whom you know is better than what you know. I am not that dumb but I can pretend. Haha

[@nickcarvajal]

I made a career off videos like these

[@Portia620]

Agreed!!! Awesome stuff!!! ❤❤

[@CrazyPaine]

I didn't know anything about MacOS terminals at all and you broke it down for me so simply. Thank you so much. I screamed when I saw you could edit text on the terminal. I was shocked.

[@johnstultz]

Wow. I just started taking a Python Bootcamp an hour ago, and it mentioned the Terminal. I came here and was amazed by how fast you can learn a new skill that you never knew existed. Great video Percy. I am a new fan of yours now.

[@toptechskills]

Thank you very much for your comment John, I'm really happy this was helpful, good luck in your bootcamp

[@dr_corrupt1014]

@@toptechskills Your video is really helpful

[@donteejay242]

I also started learning python some days ago and they mentioned command prompt, I had to Google for mac and found out its terminal and I found myself on this channel

[@maxp6066]

I’ve had a Mac for years and all this time I’ve been using the GUI to navigate and only recently been exposed to using the terminal, your tutorial is so easy to follow and understand. Thank you.

[@no_name4796]

Honestly the terminal is the only reason mac is better then windows. Yes, i use linux btw (not arch btw, but hey i write code in neovim btw, so that's already some good bragging rights there ;-)

[@hg-qz9ft]

My bootcamp prep course suggested this video to learn basics. Clear and concise. Cheers m8

[@toptechskills]

Hi S M, I'm very happy the video was helpful and I'm grateful your bootcamp prep course suggested the video. Out of interest, which bootcamp/prep course are you taking?

[@trnrvl]

Cool video for beginners . Thank you so much !

[@im.sunshine]

So, I'm a health professional who has been curious how computers actually work and one of my IT friend referred your video. I must say, I practiced step by step along you & I practiced all the tasks you taught here. Thank you for making it so easy mate! :))

[@toptechskills]

Thank you for the kind comment Remy, hope the video helped you on your journey to understanding computers!

[@im.rakesh0827]

Seriously , it's a great tutorial

[@ginaocchi-bc]

Super helpful! My professor just started using MS Powershell for his instructions and I was so lost lol it's nice to have a quick Mac tutorial to understand what he's doing!

[@enrgys_world]

This tutorial has made me feel like a mac wizard, thank you so much

[@toptechskills]

You're very welcome, so glad it was helpful, thank you for your comment

[@dconvention8568]

I'm texting you from the future - January, 2022. You are the CHAMP, godsend! Calm voice with clear, concise instructions!!! Prior to your video, I was close to figuring things out but, no dice. I felt like Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson trying to start the iMac in Zoolander. Percy, you da' man, man!!

[@toptechskills]

Thanks so much for your comment, I'm really happy to hear that it helped and for the positivity. Good luck in the Terminal!

[@brickbuilt8312]

I’m glad I found your channel. I can’t say I’ve found a use for terminal yet but I can say I now understand what it does. I thank you, sir.

[@zuberkariye2299]

JESUS CHRIST I am going for IT security and hacking, I did one IT internship while ago and I wish I knew this before my internship and this is why I’m learning cuz I’m going in the tech industry like coding, IT and more

[@theknightikins9397]

@@zuberkariye2299 what do you use it for? I’ve only ever used it to open files and such. I don’t even do that too often as I don’t like the UI as much as say the finder or text editor. I assume you can use the terminal to access the system and do some cool stuff but I’m just curious what you do in it.

[@zuberkariye2299]

@@theknightikins9397 you can install more tools that don’t have GUI support besides cli(command line based). I will suggest you learn Linux such as Ubuntu and you will like the terminal

[@zuberkariye2299]

@⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ sudo same I am here trying to create a zip file with a password and then crack it

[@zuberkariye2299]

@⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ sudo I seen you on SecurityFWD channel yesterday

[@21stcenturyafropolitan]

Bro, this is beautiful. I have zero computer skills but you made it easy to grasp. Thoroughly enjoyed this lesson.

[@toptechskills]

Thanks so much for your comment, I'm really happy it was easy for you grasp. Good luck! 🙏

[@samanthafeinen3216]

Thank you so much for this video! I just started The Odin Project, and I was having a really hard time understanding this concept, and I feel like I totally understand this now!! Plus I'm teaching this to myself at 1:30 in the morning!

[@toptechskills]

Very glad the video was helpful. Good on you for starting the Odin Project, I had not heard of that before, but it looks really well put together. Good luck.

[@engineergirl6869]

currently in a coding bootcamp, and could not for the life of me use terminal or even understand it after weeks. sucks because at the beginning of every project and software installation they say "okay create a folder in your directory through terminal."....this video completely caught me up. thank you

[@toptechskills]

Hi Patricia, very glad I could help, hope you enjoy the bootcamp and get a lot out of it!

[@david.kizivat]

There actually is a way to "go back" using cd command that is completely equivalent to what the "back" button does in Finder (which is that actually goes to previous location you've been to, not necessarily to the parent directory). It's cd - (minus). Just leaving it here cause I found it useful from time to time.

[@toptechskills]

Very nice, I had forgotten about that, thanks for sharing.

[@matisscukurs5535]

oh nice, It also outputs the working directory. Appreciated.

[@MyHealth100]

I had zero knowledge of the terminal, but now I am confident to use it in my project. Thank you very much, God bless you!!

[@chriskellervocalstudio]

been working with Terminal for a couple days and getting little accomplished. I understood everything in this 17 minute video and executed everything perfectly. Thank you!

[@toptechskills]

Thanks for the comment Chris, very happy the video was helpful.

[@carlitos05]

Just switched to a Macbook Pro that my new job gave me, always been a Windows guy. This was super helpful and not unlike windows so that was a relief.

[@toptechskills]

Thanks for the comment, glad it was helpful. You may not want to go back!

[@bibeksingh7773]

Thank you for uploading this video, have been looking for something like this since a long time, your way of explaining things makes it extremely easy for the viewers to understand.

[@toptechskills]

Hi Bibek Singh, thank you for taking the time to leave a kind comment like this. I'm very glad the video was valuable for you.

[@royakha1484]

I agree with you , its just amazing 🙏❤️

[@nefariousnilbog]

Thanks you so much for your help. I'm 39, and late to the party in trying to learn command line in both Mac and Windows :D Your video was of great use.

[@toptechskills]

Happy it was helpful, you're never late to the party with these skills I'd say!

[@SanSued]

I am a literature student working in the area of Digital Humanities. We have a test tomorrow and I thought I was gonna fail because I did not know even a bit about Command Line. This video has helped me a lot in just 17 mins! Think I will do well in test tomorrow 😁 Thank you making me feel confident about knowing computers!

[@phurisottatipreedawong1618]

I finished high school a few months ago and I plan to become a KZbinr, Artist and Programmers. If the plan doesn't work, after the pandemic I will study in university and/or operate family business. Today is the first day that I learn Python in Coursera. Thank You for your video.

[@toptechskills]

Thank you for your comment and best of luck for your future plans!

[@googlenick4351]

it is truly a good tutorial that I had ever found, quite easy to learn and useful during working, appreciate it! hope to learn more from you

[@toptechskills]

Thanks for your kind comment, glad the video was useful 🙏

[@paulksacco]

Thank you. I am a very old man to whom Terminal was a scary place. Now I see that it's like my life in DOS and pre-DOS! Baby Steps!

[@thegoodkush]

I wanted to learn python but figured I should figure out how to use my mac terminal first, this really helped me out! Thanks a lot man!!

[@jeshuruncarlos6649]

Same Here....

[@toptechskills]

Thank you both, I'm very glad it was helpful, thanks for the comments

[@jdillon8360]

Thanks for making this video. There are some other videos on youtube about terminal but the first thing they do is tell you to install some extra software before you even start using terminal. I like that you start off just doing basic commands that we can use without installing anything extra.

[@kumoitojp]

I've been looking for a tutorial like this for years! Perfect!

[@toptechskills]

Hi Kumoito jp, so glad you liked the video, thank you for your comment 🙏

[@AlecKinch]

Thank you, am trying to write a script I need in Python, I got it working in a root directory, but needed to change directories in the code. Ripping my hair out…..until I found and watched your video. You are so right , I needed to learn terminal to be able to do “real world” coding :)

[@isaacsnowcarini4808]

This was really well done! would be amazing to see a guide to installing software (pip, python etc) and talk about bash and shell

[@toptechskills]

Thanks for your kind words, Snow. Hope to get back into making content like this in future.

[@brianrowland9993]

Excellent - clear and concise explanation to overcome Terminal anxiety! I hope you have more presentations to build on the basics! Subscribed!

[@hemangicharel5987]

This is really really helpful for me as a beginner .It cleared lot of my doubts . Thank u so much for making this video.

[@toptechskills]

I'm very glad it was helpful, thank you very much for your comment 🙏

[@rosemaryakharume4639]

3 years later and this is still so helpful!! Do you have any videos on how to compile using Terminal?

[@otasofovwe1939]

Incredible, simply incredible. You're a brilliant teacher and this video has been super helpful. Thanks a lot.

[@toptechskills]

This comment really made my day, thank you so much for the compliment and I'm very happy the video has been helpful for you 🙏

[@harrylongofficial6248]

This is one of the first videos in a while where I have easily understood the instructor in the video, thank you so much!

[@toptechskills]

Thank you very much for the kind words Harry, I'm pleased it was easy to understand

[@profiAcc]

wow, this was so amazing, it surely helped me understand how Terminal works

[@toptechskills]

Glad you liked it! 🙏

[@_ifly]

this is the most amazing tutorial I have come across. that's why they say if you can't explain it simple enough you don't understand it well enough.

[@toptechskills]

Thank you very much Jonah

[@gdub-rawk]

Clear, concise, and a great quick refresher after not using terminal for a few years. Thanks!

[@8Eighty8Eight]

YOUR VERBAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS ARE EXCELLENT. I've watched many a how-to video. Most all of them could learn from you. Thanks for a great....no make that GREAT video.

[@toptechskills]

Thank you so much for the positive feedback -- I'm really pleased you feel that way. I put a lot of effort into trying to communicate things clearly for all viewers, so this sort of feedback really makes my day 🙏

[@autopilot1569]

I've never learnt to use the terminal so efficiently in such a short time :D. These commands are all I needed

[@toptechskills]

Very glad to hear about your terminal progress, thanks for your comment 🙏

[@cearagannon2425]

I just started teaching myself c and this is soooo helpful bc pretty much all the beginner videos don’t cover this and I’ve literally spent hours trying to figure this out from scratch

[@Blacktop_Battle]

MAKE SURE TO PUT A SPACE BETWEEN THE CD AND THE DOTS!

[@MB-ju6yv]

Why?

[@KevinJohnMulligan]

@@MB-ju6yv nothing bad will happen, but it won't work and that will be confusing.

[@MB-ju6yv]

@@KevinJohnMulligan ok thanks

[@xitecatlcabellini1167]

great video for beginners , I am taking my first course for coding and the clases are for windows system but I use Mac , I am also taking them in spanish cause my lenguage is spanish , i speak some english better than I can understand , but your speech was very clear for me to understand this class , thank you so much i really appreciate to people like you that helps studentes like me with this stuff!! thank you thank you!!

[@toptechskills]

Thank you very much for this comment, I'm very happy to hear video was helpful and easy to understand. Good luck with your course!

[@hadestech8147]

Great class, simple nicely paced instructions with great visuals.

[@toptechskills]

Thank you very much, appreciate the comment 🙏

[@heminthehat]

Amazing job demystifying the dreaded terminal! Great tutorial. Easy to follow!

[@a.d.c.3553]

And this is how you teach a class. Thanks!

[@toptechskills]

Appreciate the kind comment, thank you.

[@deliavisbal6485]

This video is awesome Percy. I was very frustrated with Terminal as I am just getting familiar and after watching this video I feel much better. it was eye opening. Thank you very much!

[@taurus20077]

For bash shell (as your default shell), + l would clear the screen too. Also, it would probably be better to run "ls -la" so you would know which ones are directories and which ones are files so you don't accidentally try to change directory with a file and get an error message!

[@MSH3423]

Hi there, this tutorial was quite easy, since I was used to MS-Dos commands, but what is the benefit of using shell commands compare to GUI input besides the speed? Can I write a function that will trigger certain bash commands together to interact with PC? What would be a good example of that if it is possible? I have a hard time learning stuff if I do not know the practical usage for it.

[@toptechskills]

Hi Qk9CWU5ib3x, I would say that for most people who are not intending to work in IT, the advantage of being familiar with the terminal is mainly that there are certain operations even on a Mac that you cannot do in a GUI. Being comfortable with the terminal will help you in these situations since you'll already have some level of understanding of what's going on, or where to run the command. For people that would like to learn how to program, or want to do system administration, these skills are essential since a lot of the tools you'll be using do not have a GUI at all, and in a lot of ways dealing with these tools via command line interface (CLI) is much simpler and faster. Your question hits on another huge benefit of command line knowledge: scripting and automation. You can certainly write scripts and functions for interacting with the PC, check out some articles on "bash scripting" and "bash functions" (I recommend a book called "How Linux Works"). One example of a useful script might be one to automatically delete files in your downloads directory that are over 30 days old. Hope that's useful, thanks for your comment.

[@Dani-hh3qd]

@@toptechskills I'm an absolute beginner in programming and only have been using GUI's so far. Can you recommend me any books to get a better understanding of what's happening under the hood, or any books in general for an IT student that are a must read? Thanks in advance!

[@javajack-1]

This is so good. I didn't know anything about terminal but need to learn for an application I need to run that only works under terminal. Other tutorials I looked at left out so many things that you included. There is an assumption by people running terminal that you know what that $ sign means. I didn't, how to look inside a directory and how to make it show in finder. Thanks for this

[@neverbenbetter8225]

When you say -r is the way to delete folders, I feel like that implies there are different types of deletion commands (aside from -r) what are they and WHY are they different?

[@toptechskills]

Running the command `man rm` will show the manual entry for the `rm` command and can show the explanation of the different options the command accepts (such as `-r`). Basically the `-r` or `-R` option tells `rm` to delete the entire file hierarchy under the file/directory you are trying to remove recursively. If you don't pass this argument, `rm` will not attempt to delete any files inside the directory you are trying to remove and would fail unless the directory is empty. The `rmdir` command is essentially equivalent to `rm -r`. Hope this helps, thank you for the comment 🙏

[@respawnicon]

@@toptechskills ok i just saw this nvm

[@melissawebster1040]

This is the best straight-to-the-point bash beginner tutorial that I've found, thanks so much!

[@ecp6490]

New Year's Eve won't stop the real professionals.

[@toptechskills]

Haha, well spotted ECP 😂

[@preetambaloda4504]

Excellent vdo for the beginners.... Lot of love frome INDIAN 🇮🇳

[@anncothromoir1018]

Short, sweet and to the point. Many thanks - a breath of fresh air in this god-awful era of over-statement!

[@gs-yp3gm]

You are a brilliant teacher. I am a computer novice. Learnt something new.

[@toptechskills]

Thank you for your comment, that means a lot to me. I'm really glad the video was useful.

[@Fremulshmat]

This is a brilliant tutorial. Clear and concise explanations. Thanks for posting

[@ALPERTONIC1971]

Thanks for the very helpful basics for the command line - When I try to use the finder with drag and drop to copy, deleter and paste I am always saying who wrote this useless software ! Now I have a great alternative. Looking forward to some more commands and tips. Thanks again.

[@robertbassi6456]

I love this video, very well made! On the last part of the video ‘rm directory’ won’t work on folders, the approach would be ‘rmdir’ which also wouldn’t work because the folder has a file created in it. It will trigger an error saying ‘ there is a file within the folder’ (or something like that) To remove the folder and its file hence we use: ‘ rm -r folder-name Thank you for sharing the video :)))

[@haigha-qb4kf]

As a newbie to Terminal, cheers mate!

[@marinaapiizarro]

I can't express how helpful this video is, THANK YOU so much

[@paragagnihotri6498]

its actually helpful thank you so much

[@toptechskills]

You're very welcome, thank you for your comment 🙏

[@paragagnihotri6498]

@@toptechskills I'm glad that you respond to your subscribers, thankyouu.

[@lilliesan]

You are such a life saver, the command sheetchart didnt make sense to me. Thank you

[@lilliankunu3658]

Wow... thank you so much. I am new to the iTerm thing. I just started a programming course and the iTerm is an important tool that we´ve been using to transfer stuff to Github, and the last two weeks haven´t been easy for me and it is almost costing me my placement in the course. I have searched online for solutions and have watched different videos but none explained it as you did. This is why they say many are called but a few a chosen. Not everyone is a teacher. A million thanks again 🙏 You are highly appreciated ❤❤

[@toptechskills]

Wow, thank you for that amazing comment Lillian, that's really touching. I'm very happy that the video was valuable for you and wish you all the best in your programming course.

[@lilliankunu3658]

@@toptechskills Thanks for the good wishes. The course is going well and I'm in the last stage which of course presents other challenges because I have to singlehandedly create a multifunction app with React and that isn't going to be easy at all, but I'm up for the challenge. 🙂 By the way, do you also do programming videos or give courses?

[@toptechskills]

Sounds like a good challenge. I have a few other videos on this channel about Ansible (DevOps tool) and Elixir (programming language), but I haven't released a course. I was planning to create a course before I started my current job a few years ago, but haven't found the time. I would really like to create a course.

[@lilliankunu3658]

@@toptechskills Please do. You are a good teacher and there are not many good teachers out there. It will help a lot of people on their journey to becoming programmers.

[@donteejay242]

Thank you for this video. I really do appreciate it. I have zero knowledge about computers and this video has been really helpful

[@ofeyofey]

history and up and down arrows are useful but to go to a certain command use the exclamation mark like this '!100' to run the 100th command. also type 'top' to show all current running processes and 'q' to get out of it. '-rf' flags are useful when removing for recursion and force.The manual pages can be viewed by just putting a command followed by man and 'apropos' is useful to if you have a vague idea of a command. Great tutorial thanks.

[@sk4tec]

Great video as a longtime Windows dev and now Mac dev. There were a lot of useful tips!

[@rhyseyg]

The repetitive style of teaching really helps me. Helps it stick a little better. Thanks for the video. Subscribed 😊

[@toptechskills]

Awesome, thank you Rhys!

[@Uli3535]

Good straightforward explanation of commands, thx!

[@dchung3088]

This is absolute gold! Liked and subscribed. Please make a part 2 to this!

[@tdematos]

I've been picking up software development on my own, and I am currently learning through the "Odin project" I am currently working on learning on navigating through the terminal and learning commands, and oh boy! Once I saw this video everything clicked and made sense! Thank you!

[@joelkgomo9245]

Excellent tutorials, I am 1 step better than yesterday

[@timmytesla9655]

I needed to learn this quickly. Your video has really helped. Thank you.

[@mylittlepitbull3143]

Awesome vid I can confirm that I went to a complete beginner to now competent by watching this vid.

[@toptechskills]

I'm really happy to hear that, thank you very much for your comment

[@Imaginariumthechannel]

Great video , you helped me with the project that I was stoked for 2 days Thank you so much

[@anerson2243]

I am very happy to watch this video it helps me a lot. I really appreciate you keep it up

[@mickeyatty]

Great video, helped me figure out my mistakes moving from PC to Mac. Thanks!

[@Sami67995]

Thank you it was amazing I am a Programmer and sometimes needed to refresh my knowledge on terminal cmd

[@sevenseas5634]

You Are The Best Simple Code Teacher Ever 🌹

[@toptechskills]

Thank you very much 🙏

[@supremereader7614]

Lvoe these basics including cd .. My professors always assumed I knew these basic commands, but I didn't always.

[@toptechskills]

Glad this helped, thank you for your comment

[@_cmgb]

4th tutorial was the charm! Thanks Percy Grunwald

[@sergiusgoins6751]

This video just made EVERYTHING im doing sooo much easier dude Thank you

[@adorablegodzilla5628]

Very helpful. I've used these commands before, but didn't know what they meant, just saw it in a guide (and probably why I forgot them).

[@sarthakmaheshwari6397]

all confusion sorted out .thank you very much for this wonderful beginners tutorial on terminal!

[@toptechskills]

You're welcome, thank you for your comment!

[@mihirprakash8808]

bruh you saved my day from this complicated terminal commands

[@casitalynch6921]

OMG I am so relieved watching this video. Thank you!!!

[@jamesguglielmo223]

This is a terrific video on the Terminal. Thanks

[@toptechskills]

Thanks for such a nice comment James

[@brandibrown6700]

Thank you so much for this video Percy! Im new to CS and really needed all of these baby steps!

[@toptechskills]

Very happy to help Brandi, good luck!

[@mrkenichi]

i am a Dev student. It's helpful for me. ThankssSSSSSS!

[@toptechskills]

You're welcome, I'm glad it was helpful for you. Thank you for your comment and good luck in your studies!

[@xanethprogrammer5917]

thxs man , i knew exactly zero about terminal commands before this video

[@toptechskills]

Glad it helped, thanks for your comment.

[@elligue]

Many thanks for that very descriptive video! As a response to one of the most recurrent FAQ; why do things in command line when it’s easier to do it in GUI? In many cases it’s true but in some cases it’s impossible since the GUI with it’s applications doesn’t cover all the functions on a Mac. Some examples where I usede it myself: 1) Having the iTunes iOS backups made on an external drive 2) Regaining access to locked drives not even responding on SUDO-autority with «chmod»-command 3) Creating an empty space in dock in order to separate different categories … probably some other stuff too that I can’t recall at the moment with my 1kB biological RAM.

[@toptechskills]

Thanks for the comment Enrique, those a great points.

[@davediamond]

Extremely helpful and incredibly clear. Thank you!

[@Kidester]

Thank you so much for this, I was so lost before and you explained everything perfectly.

[@hateezkhan4363]

Thanks, it was such an amazing video for a new Mac user like me. I would really love if you could do a little more advanced type Terminal video.

[@RhythmicEye]

Excellent tutorial Percy. Great communication skills. I feel smarter and less anxious now when looking at the empty Terminal window. Thanks very much!

[@toptechskills]

I'm really happy to hear that, thank you very much for your comment

Thanks a lot, can you please advice more advanced videos on the subject

[@Josue-rd5gt]

Glad I found this video. I am on day 2 of owning a Macbook Pro. 1st time on Mac Os😅

[@amvdevil4489]

Percy could you please do more videos just watch this and love it and would love to see even more advanced lessons you give amazing explanation would love to see more of your videos. I’ll be start my IT school in month and wanted get familiar with terminal and Vim and other stuff.

[@meysammajnooni8804]

Bravo man. Very clear and helpful.

[@TanChoonHong]

Excellent for a newbie like me. Have never used it but need to learn to install some software.

[@jayairdrop4176]

do you have a javascript course? i would love to learn from your video tutorial. your explanation is perfect.

[@toptechskills]

Thank you for your comment, I don't currently have any courses but I would love to release some courses in the future. I will let you know if I do.