Terminal on macOS is the equivalent of the Command Prompt on Windows. It allows Mac users to execute tasks using commands. When normal processes don’t work, using commands to troubleshoot issues is usually the go-to solution.

To do this, select the following criteria for your search: System files include. However, even this will not search all files on your Mac (i.e. Items in hidden folders). To search all locations for a file, perform the following: Open Macintosh HD Applications Utilities Terminal. In the window that opens, type the following, then press Enter. How to find files via the OS X Terminal. If you need to search for files in OS X, one option it is to use the OS X Terminal application and some of its services. Alias - Create an alias alloc - List used and free memory awk - Find and Replace text within file(s). Basename - Convert a full pathname to just a folder path bash - Bourne-Again SHell (Linux) bless - Set volume bootability and startup disk options. Break - Exit from a loop. Cal - Display a calendar case - Conditionally perform a command cat - Display the contents of a file cd - Change.

Terminal User Guide

To locate a string within a file, use the grep tool.

The grep tool searches the named input files for lines containing a match to the given pattern. By default, grep prints the matching lines.

To search for a unique string in a file:

Replace search_string with the string to search for, and replace filename with the name of the file whose contents you want to search.

Terminal Find File