MacOS Terminal is ugly and not very functional. I have one always open, so I decided to make it look better. I used some tips from a Medium post (How To Customize Your macOS Terminal).
Setting the Theme
I’ve been using a theme called Homebrew for the last months, but I wasn’t satisfied with it, so I decided to take a look on the recommended theme “atom-one-dark-terminal“. I imported it and I liked it.
Setting preferences
On the same Terminal Preference Window, set those settings.
Text Tab
* Font: Menlo Regular 12 pt
*Text: Deselect Use Bold Fonts and Allow Blinking Text
*Cursor: Select Vertical Bar and Blink Cursor
Window Tab
*Title: Deselect Active process name, Arguments, Dimensions
Tab Tab
*Title: Deselect Path, Active process name, Arguments, Show activity indicator
Shell Tab
*Startup: Select Run command: and add ‘clear’ to the textbox, select Run inside shell
Keyboard Tab
*Select Use Option as Meta key
It’s almost the same as the Medium post suggested, my only change was the font size. I prefer it with 12pt.
Configuring .bash_profile
My .bash_profile was already set, but I decided to improve it and clean with the Medium suggestions.
# My .bash_profile
source ~/.bash_prompt
source ~/.aliases Code language: PHP (php)Configuring .bash_prompt
I had to create the .bash_prompt:
touch .bash_promptCode language: CSS (css)If you want to understand what to what, take a look in the Medium post. It’s well written and explained. I’m showing my complete .bash_prompt:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# GIT FUNCTIONS
git_branch() {
git branch 2>/dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/ (\1)/'
}
# TERMINAL PROMPT
PS1="\[\e[0;93m\]\u\[\e[m\]" # username
PS1+=" " # space
PS1+="\[\e[0;95m\]\W\[\e[m\]" # current directory
PS1+="\[\e[0;92m\]\$(git_branch)\[\e[m\]" # current branch
PS1+=" " # space
PS1+=">> " # end prompt
export PS1;
export CLICOLOR=1
export LSCOLORS=ExFxBxDxCxegedabagacadCode language: PHP (php)Configuring .aliases
I had to create my .aliases too:
touch .aliasesCode language: CSS (css)And here’s my file:
# NAVIGATION
alias ..="cd .."
alias ...="cd ../.."
alias ....="cd ../../.."
alias .....="cd ../../../.."
# COMMON DIRECTORIES
alias dl="cd ~/Downloads"
# alias dt="cd ~/Desktop"
alias dc="cd ~/Documents"
# alias p="cd ~/Documents/projects"
# alias home="cd ~"
# GIT
alias g="git"
alias gs="git status"
alias gd="git diff"
alias gb="git branch"
alias gm="git checkout master"
# SHOW/HIDE HIDDEN FILES
#alias showhidden="defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true && killall Finder
#alias hidehidden="defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool false && killall Finder
# SHOW/HIDE DESKTOP ICONS
#alias hidedesktop="defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false && killall Finder
#alias showdesktop="defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true && killall Finder
# CUSTOM CHANGES
alias ll="ls -alh"Code language: PHP (php)Notice that I copied the Medium post file, but commented many of the lines. I also recreated one of my most used alias on this file (the “ll”).
After that, you just need to reopen Terminal and it’ll be working with the new tweaks.
Sources:
- Medium: How To Customize Your macOS Terminal
- Github: atom-one-dark-terminal