Then hit return to edit the file.Īlso, this string, a Unix path, can be copied right out of the Terminal and pasted somewhere else. Voila! The icon in the Finder is magically converted to a text path in the Terminal. First, on at the terminal prompt, type “vi” (or your favorite editor command), and then just drag the file name over to the cursor. For example, let’s say you want to edit the Perl script. If you already have a Fnder window open to a directory (folder) that you’re working in, you can just drag the file icon to the Terminal’s command prompt. However, one of the cool things about OS X is the integration of the GUI and Unix. Your first thought might be to use the cd shell command to navigate to the file. Let's say that you're preparing to edit a text file in the Terminal.

If the file is editable, you can enter an editor command before you drag the file.

One of the coolest tricks in OS X is the ability to drag a file from the Finder to the Terminal window to see its path.

Mac edit text file in terminal