Terminal on Mac: How to access your Mac's hidden command center

If you’ve used a Windows PC in the past, you might be familiar with the Command Prompt screen built into its operating system. While a bit outdated, it still exists in Windows 10.

Did you know that Mac has something similar? It’s called the Terminal, and it has some pretty nifty uses you might not be aware of. It’s also surprisingly easy to use. Tap or click here for five pro tips to get more out of your Mac.

If you are curious about how to use it, read on. Here’s how to access your Mac’s hidden command center and some useful commands for you to try in the future.

Finding command center

Even if you are familiar with Mac, you may not know where your command center is hidden. Thankfully, it’s easy enough to find:

  • Open the Finder application, it should be located on your task bar.
  • Open the Utilities folder.
  • Double click on Terminal.
  • The Terminal will then open and you are ready to enter commands.

Caffeinate

If you are running a program or importing or exporting data and want to avoid your Mac going to sleep, you can use the Terminal for that.

It’s a little-known command called caffeinate, just like giving your computer a quick cup of coffee. The command in Terminal allows you to say how long you can keep your computer from going to sleep. Do so by typing in this command:

caffeinate -u -t 3600

To exit, hit Control + C, and caffeinate will stop running.

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