Apple Notes

Keyboard Shortcuts

There are many useful keyboard shortcuts that I’ve come across over time, and I try to include them here so they don’t get forgotten.

DevTools keyboard shortcut

COMMAND+SHIFT+I

Resource: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/devtools/shortcuts/

Open Finder

OPTION + COMMAND + SPACE

Resource: https://www.howtogeek.com/661251/how-to-open-finder-with-a-keyboard-shortcut-on-mac/#:~:text=Luckily%2C%20you%20can%20open%20Finder,window%20for%20quick%20file%20searches.

Open Spotlight

COMMAND + SPACE

Maximize window

COMMAND + TAB to highlight the minimized window you want to maximize.

Before releasing the COMMAND button, hit the OPTION button (ALT on a windows keyboard).

Resource: https://superuser.com/questions/196141/keyboard-shortcut-to-unhide-or-unminimize-a-window-in-os-x

Put mac to sleep

OPTION + COMMAND + POWER

Put display to sleep

CTRL + SHIFT + POWER

Resource: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

Jump to URL bar in Chrome

COMMAND + L

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/11573/chrome-keyboard-shortcut-to-go-to-address-bar

Show hidden files and folders in Finder

COMMAND + SHIFT + .

Resource: https://ianlunn.co.uk/articles/quickly-showhide-hidden-files-mac-os-x-mavericks/

Go to folder in Finder

COMMAND + SHIFT + G

Resource: https://blog.bejarano.io/fixing-cron-jobs-in-mojave.html

Lock Screen

CTRL + COMMAND + Q

Mirror display (or stop mirroring)

COMMAND + F1

Highlight text

Hold OPTION + COMMAND and select the text you want with your mouse.

Downloads for Apple Developers

https://developer.apple.com/download/more/

Check ssh service status

sudo systemsetup -getremotelogin

Enable SSH

sudo systemsetup -setremotelogin on

Disable SSH

sudo systemsetup -setremotelogin off

Resource: http://osxdaily.com/2016/08/16/enable-ssh-mac-command-line/

Disable screensharing

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.screensharing.plist

Script to create new users

Be sure to run this as root.

#!/bin/bash

USERNAME=user1
FULLNAME="User 1"
PASSWORD="yourpasswordgoeshere"
SECONDARY_GROUPS="staff"

if [[ $UID -ne 0 ]]; then echo "Please run $0 as root." && exit 1; fi

# Find the next available user ID
MAXID=$(dscl . -list /Users UniqueID | awk '{print $2}' | sort -ug | tail -1)
USERID=$((MAXID+1))

# Create the user account
dscl . -create /Users/$USERNAME
dscl . -create /Users/$USERNAME UserShell /bin/bash
dscl . -create /Users/$USERNAME RealName "$FULLNAME"
dscl . -create /Users/$USERNAME UniqueID "$USERID"
dscl . -create /Users/$USERNAME PrimaryGroupID 20
dscl . -create /Users/$USERNAME NFSHomeDirectory /Users/$USERNAME

dscl . -passwd /Users/$USERNAME $PASSWORD

# Add use to any specified groups
for GROUP in $SECONDARY_GROUPS ; do
    dseditgroup -o edit -t user -a $USERNAME $GROUP
done

# Create the home directory
createhomedir -c -u $USERNAME > /dev/null

echo "Created user #$USERID: $USERNAME ($FULLNAME)"

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/348956/how-can-i-create-a-new-user-through-terminal-macos-10-14

Remove user account

sudo dscl . -delete /Users/$USERNAME

Delete the home directory if you created it:

sudo rm -rf /Users/$USERNAME

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/310308/delete-a-standard-user-from-mac-os

List users

sudo dscl . list /Users | grep -v "^_"

Take screenshot

The output will be written to /var/tmp/.tmp

screencapture -x /var/tmp/.tmp

Get version of OSX Running

sw_vers -productVersion

Resource: https://www.tecmint.com/send-a-message-to-logged-users-in-linux-terminal/

sudo mkdir /mnt/name_of_system_folder
sudo mount -t nfs \
    -o rsize=65536,wsize=65536,intr,hard,tcp,\
    locallocks,rdirplus,readahead=128 system.com:<path to volume mount> \
    /mnt/name_of_system_folder

Resources: https://care.qumulo.com/hc/en-us/articles/115008111268-Recommended-NFS-Mount-Options https://willhaley.com/blog/mount-nfs-share-on-a-mac/

sudo umount -Af -t nfs,smbfs

Resources: https://askubuntu.com/questions/292043/how-to-unmount-nfs-when-server-is-gone https://superuser.com/questions/249611/how-to-forceably-unmount-stuck-network-share-in-mac-os-x

https://gist.github.com/L422Y/8697518

SSHFS

Install:

brew cask install osxfuse
brew install sshfs

Mount remote system:

mkdir /mnt/remote_system
cd /mnt/remote_system
sudo sshfs -o allow_other,defer_permissions user@remote_system.com:/ /mnt/remote_system

Resources: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-sshfs-to-mount-remote-file-systems-over-ssh https://howchoo.com/g/ymmxmzlmndb/how-to-install-sshfs

Creating plist files

Plist files can be used as an alternative to cron jobs. This specific example will run even if there are no users logged in.

This particular one will run a python script, not_evil.py every day at 3 am.

Create /Library/LaunchDaemons/not.evil.plist with this content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>

    <key>Label</key>
        <string>not.evil</string>

    <key>Program</key>
        <string>/Users/notabackdooruser/not_evil.py</string>

    <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
        <string>/Users/notabackdooruser/</string>

    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
        <dict>
            <key>Hour</key>
                <integer>3</integer>
            <key>Minute</key>
                <integer>0</integer>
        </dict>

    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
        <dict>
     <key>http_proxy</key>
         <string>http://companyproxy.com:80</string>
        </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Make sure the file is owned by root (sudo chown root job.plist) and that wheel is set for the group (sudo chgrp wheel job.plist).

To load the file to the running daemons, run:

sudo launchctl load not.evil.plist

To remove the file from the running daemons, run:

sudo launchctl unload not.evil.plist

Another example

This will run the a bash script in the context of a specific user every minute. It will output the results to /Users/yourusername/brew-output.txt or /Users/yourusername/brew-errors.txt if there is an error in running the command.

To start, navigate to ~/Library/LaunchAgents and put this in a file called com.yourusername.job-name.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
        <dict>
            <key>PATH</key>
            <string>/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:</string>
        </dict>

        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.yourusername.job-name</string>

        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>bash</string>
            <string>-c</string>
            <string>/Users/yourusername/Library/LaunchAgents/bashscript.sh</string>
        </array>

        <key>StartInterval</key>
        <integer>60</integer>

        <key>StandardOutPath</key>
        <string>/Users/yourusername/brew-output.txt</string>

        <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
        <string>/Users/yourusername/brew-errors.txt</string>
    </dict>
</plist>

Follow this by adding the bash script to

/Users/yourusername/Library/LaunchAgents/bashscript.sh

and then running:

chmod +x /Users/yourusername/Library/LaunchAgents/bashscript.sh

With the plist and script in place, you can enable it with:

launchctl load com.yourusername.job-name.plist

and disable it with:

launchctl unload com.yourusername.job-name.plist

A complete example that automates brew updates for a user can be found here: https://gist.github.com/l50/884919db8c6819e73ebe2f50c6928fcc

Resources: https://alvinalexander.com/mac-os-x/mac-osx-startup-crontab-launchd-jobs https://medium.com/@chetcorcos/a-simple-launchd-tutorial-9fecfcf2dbb3

Run bash script on startup

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.yourusername.bashscript.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict>
      <key>PATH</key>
      <string>/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:</string>
    </dict>

    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.yourusername.job-name</string>

    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Users/yourusername/Library/LaunchAgents/bashscript.sh</string>

    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>

  </dict>
</plist>

Resources: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5gISXy0YwUMJ:https://devops.itsltns.io/2019/05/01/file-mounting+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Run every 6 hours

<key>StartInterval</key>
<integer>21600</integer>

Resource: https://www.maketecheasier.com/use-launchd-run-scripts-on-schedule-macos/

Directory to run from

To specify which directory to run the job from:

<key>WorkingDirectory</key>
<string>/Users/yourname/demo</string>

Resource: https://medium.com/@chetcorcos/a-simple-launchd-tutorial-9fecfcf2dbb3

Debugging

Add these lines to your .plist file:

<!-- Log STDERR -->
<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
<string>/Users/yourusername/Library/Logs/come.yourusername.job-name-err.log</string>

<!-- Log STDOUT -->
<key>StandardOutPath</key>
<string>/Users/yourusername/Library/Logs/com.yourusername.job-name.log</string>

<!-- Run when the jobs is loaded -->
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>

Run this command to view the logs:

tail -f /var/log/system.log

Then run this to load the job:

launchctl load -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.yourusername.job-name.plist

and this to unload the job once you’re done:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.yourusername.job-name.plist

Resources: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6337513/how-can-i-debug-a-launchd-script-that-doesnt-run-on-startup https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1370901/very-simple-launchd-plist-not-running-my-script

Avoid escaping characters

You may have characters in your plist that require you to escape them. For example:

<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
    <string>/usr/local/bin/bash</string>
    <string>runBgScript.sh&</string>
</array>

The & is problematic here. Instead of playing the escape all the things game, you can just do this instead:

<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
    <string>/usr/local/bin/bash</string>
    <string><![CDATA[runBgScript.sh&]]></string>
</array>

Resource: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3757817/plist-contains-the-character

Run Software Update via CLI

# Update all
softwareupdate -i -a

Resource: https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/discussions/30828/softwareupdate-l-no-updates-found

Store SSH Key in Keychain

ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/[your-private-key]

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/48502/how-can-i-permanently-add-my-ssh-private-key-to-keychain-so-it-is-automatically/250572#250572?newreg=1026a7ae1a72435ea5dca92ea1dbe053

Get CPU thread count

sysctl -a | grep cpu.thread_count | egrep -o '(\d+)'

Show reason for reboot

log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "Previous shutdown cause"' --last 24h

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/321541/how-can-i-find-the-reason-for-my-macs-recent-restart

Kill all chrome processes

killall 'Google Chrome'

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/158684/chrome-wont-quit-mac-yosemite

Capture output of running process

This would call for something like strace in linux, which is not available in OSX. Instead, we use dtrace:

capture() {
    sudo dtrace -p "$1" -qn '
        syscall::write*:entry
        /pid == $target && arg0 == 1/ {
            printf("%s", copyinstr(arg1, arg2));
        }
    '
}

Resource: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3425340/how-can-i-capture-the-stdout-from-a-process-that-is-already-running

Get SHA-256 hash of an application

shasum -a 256 <path to binary>
# For example, to get the SHA-256 of the Chromium binary:
shasum -a 256 /Applications/Chromium.app/Contents/MacOS/Chromium

Resource: https://medium.com/@EvgeniIvanov/how-to-verify-checksum-on-mac-988f166b0c4f#:~:text=Verifying%20SHA%2D256%20checksum&text=Or%20you%20can%20type%20the%20command%20shasum%20%2Da%20256%20followed,the%20file%20to%20the%20Terminal.&text=Press%20Enter-,Wait%20a%20while%20and%20you%20should%20see%20the%20checksum%20on,%2Fto%2Fyour%2Ffile.

Get ipv6 address

ifconfig en0

The value next to inet6 is your ipv6 address.

You can also:

Click the Apple menu and select System Preferences
Click Network
Choose your connection type (Built-in Ethernet or AirPort) and click the Advanced button.
Select the TCP⁄IP tab to display the IP address information

Resource: https://it.umn.edu/services-technologies/how-tos/ipv6-setup-guides-mac-os-x

Open all pdfs in CWD with default PDF app

for file in ./*.pdf; do open "${file}"; done

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/316008/open-several-pdfs-from-terminal

Open Finder
Ctrl-k
vnc://target_ip

Resource: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20100927085636535

Fix permission denied for creating cronjobs

Give Full Disk Access to iterm (if you’re using it) or terminal via these instructions
Relaunch the terminal and run this command to test if the issue has been resolved: ls ~/Library/Messages

Resources: https://serverfault.com/questions/954586/osx-mojave-crontab-tmp-tmp-x-operation-not-permitted http://osxdaily.com/2018/10/09/fix-operation-not-permitted-terminal-error-macos/

You may need to do this bit of horribleness as well (obviously not ideal from a security standpoint): https://blog.bejarano.io/fixing-cron-jobs-in-mojave.html

Brew Notes

Install specific version of package

You can install a specific version of a package using @. For example, to install golang 1.12:

brew install go@1.12

Get path to brew packages

brew --prefix

Switch to another version of a package

brew install terraform@0.12
cp -rf /usr/local/Cellar/terraform@0.12/0.12.29 usr/local/Cellar/terraform/.
brew switch terraform 0.12.29

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/304024/how-do-you-install-an-older-version-of-postgres-9-6-using-homebrew

Update script

brew update; brew upgrade; brew cleanup

Fix permissions

Here’s a one-liner:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib /usr/local/sbin && \
 chmod u+w /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib /usr/local/sbin

Brewfile

Generate Brewfile with existing packages

brew bundle dump

Resource: https://www.caseyliss.com/2019/10/8/brew-bundle

Fix Alt key in iterm

This is a great tutorial that covers the process in depth: https://dev.to/clairecodes/making-the-alt-key-work-in-iterm2-1aa9

Strike-through keyboard shortcut not working in Google Docs

This happens when Chrome Extensions claim the shortcut. Navigate to chrome://extensions/shortcuts and find which one is doing it. Once you’ve identified it, change that shortcut and the issue should be resolved.

Resource: https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/115418/google-docs-strike-through-shortcut-not-working-on-mac-in-chrome

Access sites with NET::ERR_CERT_INVALID in Chrome

Simply type “thisisunsafe”

Resource: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58802767/no-proceed-anyway-option-on-neterr-cert-invalid-in-chrome-on-macos

Change hostname of system

NEW_HOSTNAME=myhostname
# Change FQDN:
sudo scutil --set HostName "${NEW_HOSTNAME}.domain.com"
# Change Bonjour hostname:
sudo scutil --set LocalHostName "${NEW_HOSTNAME}.local"
# Change the computer name:
sudo scutil --set ComputerName "${NEW_HOSTNAME}"
# Flush DNS cache:
dscacheutil -flushcache
# Reboot the system for the changes to take effect:
sudo reboot

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/287760/set-the-hostname-computer-name-for-macos

Use touch id for sudo

Add the following line to the top of

sudo vi /etc/pam.d/sudo
# Add this line to the top and save:
auth sufficient pam_tid.so

Resource: https://sixcolors.com/post/2020/11/quick-tip-enable-touch-id-for-sudo/

Remove past link from chrome address bar

Open chrome and type the URL you want to remove
Find links on the suggestions list that are associated with the site you want to remove
Type the following to remove the link from the suggested list:
SHIFT+FN+DELETE

Resource: https://osxdaily.com/2021/10/22/how-delete-chrome-url-links-address-bar/

Keyboard Shortcuts#

DevTools keyboard shortcut#

Open Finder#

Open Spotlight#

Maximize window#

Put mac to sleep#

Put display to sleep#

Jump to URL bar in Chrome#

Show hidden files and folders in Finder#

Go to folder in Finder#

Lock Screen#

Mirror display (or stop mirroring)#

Highlight text#

Downloads for Apple Developers#

Check ssh service status#

Enable SSH#

Disable SSH#

Disable screensharing#

Script to create new users#

Remove user account#

List users#

Take screenshot#

Get version of OSX Running#

Mount NFS share#

Unmount NFS share#

Automount an NFS share in /Volumes#

SSHFS#

Creating plist files#

Another example#

Run bash script on startup#

Run every 6 hours#

Directory to run from#

Debugging#

Avoid escaping characters#

Run Software Update via CLI#

Store SSH Key in Keychain#

Get CPU thread count#

Show reason for reboot#

Kill all chrome processes#

Capture output of running process#

Get SHA-256 hash of an application#

Get ipv6 address#

Open all pdfs in CWD with default PDF app#

Screen sharing via finder#

Fix permission denied for creating cronjobs#

Brew Notes#

Install specific version of package#

Get path to brew packages#

Switch to another version of a package#

Update script#

Fix permissions#

Brewfile#

Generate Brewfile with existing packages#

Fix Alt key in iterm#

Strike-through keyboard shortcut not working in Google Docs#

Access sites with NET::ERR_CERT_INVALID in Chrome#

Change hostname of system#

Use touch id for sudo#

Remove past link from chrome address bar#