Not at all a dumb question. Terminal is a program that gives you command line access to the OS through a unix shell. As some folks have discussed earlier, through this command line shell, you can access all of the OS Windows apps like TextEdit, Mail, and Spot Light.
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of LARRY WANGER Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 5:38 PM To: General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS Xby theblind Subject: [SPAM] - Re: dot files and TextEdit from terminal [was Re: dot files and thegui:] - Found word(s) check out in the Text body Hi, Can someone clarify what terminal is for me? I know, probably a dumb question. By the way, my Mac arrives tomorrow!!!!! Check out my blog at http://lsw999.blogspot.com/ Larry Wanger ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by theblind" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 1:43 PM Subject: dot files and TextEdit from terminal [was Re: dot files and the gui:] > David, > > You can access TextEdit (and other Mac applications) directly from > terminal > with the "open -a" command syntax. For the case you describe of wanting > to > edit a dot file (such as .profile) that is normally hidden, type: > > open -a TextEdit .profile > > and the file will open in TextEdit. > > On Saturday, December 10, 2005, at 03:33AM, David Poehlman > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>When I open my home folder through the gui, , the . (dot) files are >>not visible. I can view them in windows and through terminal . . . >>I've got a .profile that's dot fprofile in my >>home folder and I can see it from my windows box but not when I open >>my home folder /users/davidpoehlman on my desktop. >> >>This [accessing dot files through gui] >>would be quite facilitative as I could use text edit to do >>editing when necessary instead of going into terminal, renaming the >>file and then editing it and renaming it or going through the network >>on the windows boxes. > > This also works for other apps (e.g. open -a Preview, etc.) > > You should also be able to drag and drop the file from your terminal > window into TextEdit (under Tiger) in the dock and have the application > open up according to this MacWorld article: > > http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macosxhints/2005/11/textdrag/index.php > > Hope this helps. > > Esther > >
