terminal question

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paul - 19 Aug 2005 07:38 GMT

Hi,

If I try to launch a program from the terminal I can't just change to the
applications folder and launch the app, I have to type the full path such
as:
/users/paul/applications/theapp

Is there a way to do this without needing the full path; just by navigating
to the required folder then entering the name of the app?

Paul

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Matt McLeod - 19 Aug 2005 08:00 GMT

> Is there a way to do this without needing the full path; just by navigating
> to the required folder then entering the name of the app?

$ cd /Applications/
$ open Dictionary.app/

opens the Dictionary application.

My understanding is that 'open' passes the named thing to Finder
to deal with. Finder knows about application bundles.

Or are you talking about text-based programs that run in the
terminal? In that case prefix the name with ./, i.e.:

$ cd /some/directory
$ ./application

You can in principle stick "." in your PATH variable, but it's
a bit of a security risk and common UNIX newbie mistake. Much
safer to do the explicit "./" thing instead.

Matt

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Jason - 19 Aug 2005 11:41 GMT

> > Is there a way to do this without needing the full path; just by navigating
> > to the required folder then entering the name of the app?
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> a bit of a security risk and common UNIX newbie mistake. Much
> safer to do the explicit "./" thing instead.

open -a <Application Name>
e.g.

open -a Safari

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Mac Forum / Country Specific / Australian Mac Group / August 2005

terminal question