Tweaking the Mac OS X command line

Follows a list of tweaks for OS X I found necessary for a CLI user like me.

Better VIM

• Edit ~/.vimrc
• syntax on
set autoindent
set smartindent
set ts=4
set backspace=indent,eol,start


The cryptic last line makes backspace work how you would expect.

Coloured ls Output

• Edit ~/.profile
• export CLICOLOR=1
export LSCOLORS=ExFxCxDxBxegedabagacad

Improved Profile

• Edit ~/.profile
• export HISTSIZE=10000
  export HISTFILESIZE=10000
  export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups
  export EDITOR=vim

  alias la="ls -a"
  alias l="ls -la"
  alias ..="cd .."
  alias ps="ps -cU `whoami`"

  GREEN="\[\033[1;32m\]”
  RESET=”\[\033[0m\]”

  export PS1=”$GREEN\W$RESET\$ ”
export PS2=’> ‘

The ps alias gives a much better output with dependency information and all that jazz. Try it. The .. alias is also a huge time-saver

This entry was posted on Friday, March 30th, 2007 at 14:28 and is filed under Work. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.