←back to thread

macOS command-line tools you might not know about

(saurabhs.org)
2039 points Gadiguibou | 2 comments | 27 Jun 23 12:08 UTC | HN request time: 0.422s | source
Show context
klausa ◴[27 Jun 23 12:42 UTC] No.36491947[source]▶
`pbcopy` and `pbpaste` are one of my most-loved in the list.

Dealing with some minified json, switching to iTerm, doing `pbpaste | json_pp | pbcopy` and having a clean output is _so_ nice.

replies(28): >>36492008 #>>36492015 #>>36492028 #>>36492101 #>>36492108 #>>36492229 #>>36492265 #>>36492890 #>>36492953 #>>36493037 #>>36493127 #>>36493336 #>>36493457 #>>36493802 #>>36494023 #>>36494242 #>>36494325 #>>36495379 #>>36495894 #>>36496866 #>>36497033 #>>36497293 #>>36497589 #>>36497973 #>>36498181 #>>36498558 #>>36498586 #>>36535798 #
mig39 ◴[27 Jun 23 15:26 UTC] No.36494242[source]▶
It's cool to use pbcopy and pbpaste with your phone! Copy some text on the phone, and you can pbpaste it onto the Mac command line. So cool.
replies(1): >>36494515 #
nojs ◴[27 Jun 23 15:46 UTC] No.36494515[source]▶
It creeps me out when the clipboard is unexpectedly shared between my phone and computer. And since the feature seems to turn on randomly but not reliably when I want it to, I’d rather it just didn’t exist.
replies(5): >>36494567 #>>36494594 #>>36494787 #>>36494871 #>>36495265 #
pjot ◴[27 Jun 23 15:52 UTC] No.36494594[source]▶
Make sure both your phone and computer have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on.
replies(1): >>36494889 #
MikeTheGreat ◴[27 Jun 23 16:15 UTC] No.36494889[source]▶
I'm curious why the Bluetooth is required?

Requiring WiFi makes (so the phone/computer is on a network and can communicate with the other devices), but what's the benefit of Bluetooth? Does it only work when the phone and computer are near each other?

replies(2): >>36495309 #>>36495454 #
1. hanche ◴[27 Jun 23 16:41 UTC] No.36495309[source]▶
Bluetooth is used to discover peers and to initiate communication. Thus handoff works even on a wifi network that blocks broadcasts. It even works when no wifi network is present, by setting up an ad hoc network for the connection. (Disclaimer: This is all I know. The details seem rather murky, as handoff is a proprietary Apple protocol.)
replies(1): >>36518953 #
2. lathiat ◴[29 Jun 23 11:21 UTC] No.36518953[source]▶
The requirements are here: https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT209455

Turning off Bluetooth or wifi may be one of the more common reasons it doesn’t work. Some people never do that, but others do.