Mac Run App From Terminal

I can give you some partial answers. If you are running in Terminal, the location of the Applications folder is Applications. Indeed, this is not in the standard unix path, so you cannot normally run an app in the Applications folder just by typing its name.
However, you can run at least some of the GUI apps from Terminal if you know the proper path. For instance, if you enter the following command into a Terminal window:
/Applications/Preview.app/Contents/MacOS/Preview
the Preview application will start.
If you look at this path name, you can start to see some of the problems with trying to add GUI apps to your unix path. These apps are not directly in the /Applications directory. In general, each GUI app will be in its own directory. So, if you wanted to run lots of GUI apps from Terminal by typoing only the name of the app, you would have to add something to your path for each app. Another issue is that it might not always be clear what is actually the proper file to invoke. For instance, I have tried to start Microsoft Office from Terminal but have failed. It is possible that I did not find the correct file to use. I am also wondering if all GUI applications can be started from the Terminal - I am not convinced that that is the case.
There is one nice feature of the Terminal that is germane to this discussion. If you are in Terminal and your working directory contains some document, you can use the open utility to open that file in the correct GUI application. For instance, if I have a pdf file called test.pdf in my directory, I can issue the Terminal command
open test.pdf
and this will cause Preview (or perhaps Acrobat) to start up and to open the file.
I hope this helps to answer your question. You did not say what it is that you want to do. If you there is a specific task that you would like to accomplish, please let us know and perhaps someone can help. Also, you can get very good help in the unix forum.
Rich
EMAC G4 1.0 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)
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Jan 3, 2007 7:20 PM

There are two main ways to install PostgreSQL on mac OS X.

  • Mac App Store: The Mac will only run apps downloaded from the Mac App Store. Mac App Store and identified developers: When you try to open a new app and it’s not on the list of identified.
  • Of course you can still open unsigned apps, but it’s a pain in the ass. Let’s say you want to open a free app like Audacity. Open it and you will get this pop-up Ok, nothing new here. This was present in previous OS X version too. However, in previous versions you always had the option to set OS X and allow unsigned apps from “Anywhere”.

Mac Run App From Terminal

Mac App Store: The Mac will only run apps downloaded from the Mac App Store. Mac App Store and identified developers: When you try to open a new app and it’s not on the list of identified.

  1. Downloading the app file from postgresapp.com.

Using Homebrew

Homebrew can be installed by running the following command in a terminal:

Mac launch app via terminal

/usr/bin/ruby -e '$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)'

If Homebrew is already installed, make sure that it is up to date by running:

brew update

Then ensure there are no conflicts or errors using:

brew doctor

Homebrew is a powerful package manager with many uses, including installing and running postgreSQL. This can be done by typing the following command into a terminal:

Now that postgres is installed the default server can be started by running the command:

This will start up a postgres server hosted locally on port 5432. The server will be run out of the directory /usr/local/var/postgres.

It can now be accessed by typing the following command:

This will connect to the server and access the postgres database. Once this is done:

  • Schemas and tables can be created
  • Data can be loaded and deleted from the database
  • Queries can be run

The process should look like this:

This shows that the server has been started and can be connected to.

(Optional) Creating a Custom Data Directory

A custom data directory can also be used for a server. To do this, first create a directory to be used as the server location. For example, create a directory called myData in the home directory:

Once the directory is created, the server can be initialized. This means that we configure the directory and add the necessary files to run the server. To do this run the initdb command as shown:

This will fill the myData directory with files necessary to run the server:

Now that the server is initialized and the log file is created, you can start the server from this directory. To do this use the command and substitute in for the specified values:

The “Data Directory” refers to the directory that was just initialized (in this case myData). The “Log file” is a file that will record server events for later analysis. Generally log files are formatted to contain the date in the file name (e.g. “2018-05-27.log” or “myData-logfile-2018-05-27.log”) and should be stored outside of the database that they are logging so as to avoid unnecessary risks. Log files can be dense to read but are very useful for security and debugging purposes:

The command above will generate a log file like the one shown, start the server, and tie the log file to the server. If a log file is not specified, events will be logged to the terminal:

The server will only start if the port is free. If the default server is running it must first be stopped using the pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres stop command:

Once started, it can be connected to the same way as before using:

Using PostgreSQL App

To run a server through the postgres app, the first step is to download the program. The app can be downloaded on postgresapp.com. Once the app is downloaded and moved into the applications folder, the app can be opened.

Open the Postgres app:

In order to start the server, click the start button.

This will start the server. Details on the server can be found by opening the server settings:

This interface shows all the essential information regarding the server. It also allows the port to be changed very easily. This is useful because multiple PostgreSQL servers can

Mac Os X Run App From Terminal

Note: To change the port in the terminal, the ‘postgres.conf’ file (which can be found in the data directory) must be edited. This looks like the following:

Using Terminal with the PostgreSQL App

Once the app has been downloaded, command line tools can be used as well. These tools can be accessed by typing:

For example, the ‘postgres’ database on the server can be connected to using the psql tool with postgres as an argument:

Rather than typing out the full path each time however, the path can be added to a file that will allow significantly easier access to the tools, allowing the tools be accessed from any directory on the computer. To do this, the following command can be run in the terminal:

Once this is done, the ‘postgres’ database can be accessed by simply typing:

Summary

  • Homebrew:
    • Download/update Homebrew
    • Use Homebrew to install postgres
    • (Optional) Create New Data Directory
      • initdb
    • Start Server
  • App:
    • Download app and move to Applications
    • Run App
    • (Optional) Set different port for multiple servers
    • Start Server
    • (Optional) Add path so that command line tools are easy to access

Run Application From Terminal

References

Mac Run App From Terminal Download

Written by: Matthew Layne
Reviewed by: Blake Barnhill , Matt David