"Insert text by typing" doesn't work in the Terminal

Questions & Suggestions
4

Hey Jack,

The Insert Text by Pasting action is probably the way to go.

Remove the “\n” if you don't want the command to be automatically completed.

Terminal - CD to Desktop.kmmacros (1.3 KB)

On the other hand telling the Terminal directly what to do is a bit more organic.

This will check to make sure the front terminal window isn't busy. If it IS busy then the command will open in a new window.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Auth: Christopher Stone
# dCre: 2011/10/16 02:11
# dMod: 2017/02/24 02:19
# Appl: Terminal
# Task: CD to ~/Desktop
# Libs: None
# Osax: None 
# Tags: @Applescript, @Terminal, @CD, @Front, @Desktop
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

try
   
   tell application "Terminal"
      if (busy of front window) = true then
         
         do script "cd ~/Desktop"
         
      else if (busy of front window) = false then
         
         tell front window
            do script "cd ~/Desktop" in selected tab
         end tell
         
      end if
   end tell
   
on error eMsg number eNum
   tell me to display dialog eMsg & return & return & eNum
end try

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally – the most organic method of doing this is by aliasing the command directly in the Terminal.

Paste this into the Terminal and hit enter.

alias cdd='cd ~/Desktop'

Then type: cdd<enter>

And watch the magic happen.

If you want to keep this command available you'll need to add it to your Terminal start-up file.

I use the $HOME.profile file myself:

~/.profile

If it doesn't exist you have to create it. Use BBEdit or TextWrangler (or another plain-text editor).

Watch out – as soon as you name the file it will dissapear into invisibility in the Finder – because all files/folders on Unix that start with a (dot) are invisible.

You can find out if any aliases are loaded in the current shell by entering the command:

alias<enter>

I myself have 45 of them (at current count).

See my post here for another useful script:

Open a new Terminal window for the current Finder folder

-Chris

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