Quickly Switching Between Finder and Terminal

While working in Finder, sometimes I need to jump to Terminal.app to perform a command.

To do this I generally:

• Launch the Terminal (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal.app)
• Type cd
• Then drag the little icon from the Finder toolbar on to the Terminal

This copies the current path from Finder in to the command line.

This works fine, but there are a couple of unnecessary steps here. Fortunately MacWorld points us to a good solution: Open Terminal Here.

Open Terminal Here is an AppleScript that opens the current Finder window in Terminal.app.

To install Open Terminal Here:

• Unzip
• Drag on to your Finder toolbar

Your done:

Now to open the current directory in Terminal.app, simply click the icon.

Another utility that does this is the similarly named OpenTerminal. With OpenTerminal you can add this to the right-click menu and more.

Also, to quickly open Finder to your Terminal’s directory type:

open .

Other things you can do include customizing the icon:

Or making Open Terminal Here create a new tab if Terminal.app is already running.

Similar Posts:

• Opening Finder in Current Folder from Terminal and Vice Versa
• Drag Items onto Finder Toolbar
• 5 Useful User Submitted Mac Tips
• Installing Leopard with an External Hard Disk
• Quickly Switch Between Views in Finder

I Like This Tip!

Written by Brad Jasper on June 12, 2008 at 11:25 am - Quickly Switching Between Finder and Terminal has 7 comments - Categorized in Advanced Tips, AppleScript Tips, Finder Tips, Terminal Tips

7 Responses to “Quickly Switching Between Finder and Terminal”

1. 
   Joseph McLaughlin
   Thanks for this tip! I've had my eye out for a good app like this! June 12th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
   
   
2. 
   Alexandre Possebom
   Very Cool thx man. June 13th, 2008 at 7:24 am
   
   
3. 
   axe
   What's that Macintosh HD, iDisk icon on DEVICES ?
   It's cool.
   Anyone please? June 13th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
   
   
4. 
   pedro casado
   very useful! June 16th, 2008 at 8:49 am
   
   
5. 
   WetcoastBob
   Whoa!! What is Terminal? Why use it? June 18th, 2008 at 1:51 am
   
   
6. 
   Sahil Desai
   I use Visor, made by the same guy who made Quicksilver.app
   
   you can check it out here: http://code.google.com/p/blacktree-visor/
   
   it enables quake, slide out style terminal window... enjoy! June 19th, 2008 at 12:19 am
   
   
7. 
   Michael
   Terminal is a program that gives you a command line, the classical non-graphical way to use a computer. It gives you direct access to Unix. It takes a while to learn, but there are all sorts that it does better than a GUI, and it generally runs faster. But it's really for people who are very computer literate.
   
   PS: This sounds great, because many things are done better (or easier) with Terminal, but finding a file in a folder is not one of them. June 24th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
   
   

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