The 'open' command from Terminal command line is like a double-click on an object, and sometimes it is much faster than using the Finder, at least for me. I've been a CLI user for decades and while I appreciate the GUI, many times it is too slow. Often the Finder requires far too many operations to get to the file or folder that I need to work on. Why 'Find' a location in the directory tree when I already know where it is?
Read the rest of this article for an interesting write-up on using the command line to improve the efficiency of the OS X GUI.
Since I typically already have a Terminal shell session already open, I have begun using 'open' as a shortcut. 'open ~' opens my Home folder. 'open /Applications/OmniWeb.app' launches the browser. Yes, of course, I could (and do) use the Dock for this kind of quick access, but consider my workfiles...
I am a writer with many dozens of stories, each in their own folder contained in a parent folder five levels deep. I can't overload the dock with a folder for each -- that way lies madness. I have put the parent folder in the Dock, but even then, click and scrolling takes time, especially since the folder's are numbered instead of named.
The mix of CLI and GUI is my favorite environment, and I have been waiting for OSX since A/UX bit the dust.
Read the rest of this article for an interesting write-up on using the command line to improve the efficiency of the OS X GUI.
Since I typically already have a Terminal shell session already open, I have begun using 'open' as a shortcut. 'open ~' opens my Home folder. 'open /Applications/OmniWeb.app' launches the browser. Yes, of course, I could (and do) use the Dock for this kind of quick access, but consider my workfiles...
I am a writer with many dozens of stories, each in their own folder contained in a parent folder five levels deep. I can't overload the dock with a folder for each -- that way lies madness. I have put the parent folder in the Dock, but even then, click and scrolling takes time, especially since the folder's are numbered instead of named.
[Side note to other writers: Instead of trying to track and file all your work by titles which can often change on the fly, assign each an 'opus' number and file them that way.]I put the following in my .cshrc:
set opus=/Users/hmelton/Henry/works/opusNow all I have to do, if I know the number, is:
open $opus/0073Since I have in each story folder a simple one-line text file named 'title' containing the title, I also created this little 'opname' shell-script:
#!/bin/shTo open a folder containing the word Catacomb in the title, all I have to do is:
opus=/Users/hmelton/Henry/works/opus
grep -i $1 $opus/*/title|sed -e 's//title:.*//'
open `opname catacomb`(note the backquotes) and up it comes.
The mix of CLI and GUI is my favorite environment, and I have been waiting for OSX since A/UX bit the dust.
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