Helpfull command line tools for macOS

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System tools

Get system version

sw_vers - print macOS system version information

sw_vers 
sw_vers --productVersion
sw_vers --buildVersion

List all installed system updates

softwareupdate - system software update tool

softwareupdate –-history
softwareupdate --list
softwareupdate --list-full-installers
softwareupdate --install --agree-to-license
softwareupdate --install-rosetta

Hardware information

system_profiler - reports system hardware and software configuration

system_profiler -listDataTypes
system_profiler SPHardwareDataType

Check uptime

uptime - show how long system has been running

uptime

Check dick usage

df - display free disk space

df -h

User and Group Information

Query user and group data

dscl - Directory Service command line utility

dscl . -list /Users                          # list all local users
dscl . -list /Groups                         # list all local groups
dscl . -read /Users/jschlaht                 # show all attributes of a user
dscl . -read /Users/jschlaht RealName        # show full name of a user
dscl . -read /Users/jschlaht UniqueID        # show user ID (UID)
dscl . -read /Users/jschlaht PrimaryGroupID  # show primary group ID
dscl . -list /Users UniqueID                 # list all users with their UIDs
dscl . -list /Groups GroupMembership         # list all groups with their members

Check which groups a user belongs to

id jschlaht
groups jschlaht

Read admin group members

dscl . -read /Groups/admin                   # show all attributes of the admin group
dscl . -read /Groups/admin GroupMembership   # list all members of the admin group
dscl . -read /Groups/admin GroupMembers      # list member GUIDs of the admin group

Search for a user by full name

dscl . -search /Users RealName "Jurij Schlaht"

Network Troubleshooting

Get current IP and interface details

ifconfig - configure network interface parameters

ifconfig

ipconfig - view and control IP configuration state

ipconfig getsummary en0

Test DNS resolution

ping - send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts

ping www.heise.de

dig - DNS lookup utility

dig heise.de

nslookup - query Internet name servers interactively

nslookup 192.168.178.1

Check default gateway

netstat - show network status

netstat -nr | grep default

Test port connectivity

nc - arbitrary TCP and UDP connections and listens

nc -vz jschlaht.jamfcloud.com 8443

Cronjobs and background processes

Launch Agents and Daemons

List all LaunchAgents

ls /Library/LaunchAgents

List all LaunchDaemons

ls /Library/LaunchDaemons

Check status of a specific LaunchDaemon

sudo launchctl list | grep "com.jamf"

Load a LaunchDaemon manually

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.company.script.plist

Unload a LaunchDaemon manually

sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.company.script.plist

MDM Profiles

Handle MDM profiles

Check MDM profile status

profiles - Profiles Tool for macOS

sudo profiles -P

List all installed profiles

profiles -C

Logs

View log messages

log - Access system wide log messages created by os_log, os_trace and other logging systems.

View MDM framework logs

log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "mdm"' --info --last 1h

Check logs for profile installation

log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "Profile installation failed"' --last 1h

Apps

Get apps information

Check specific app version

defaults read /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info CFBundleShortVersionString

File Permissions

Change file permissions

chmod - change file modes or Access Control Lists

The syntax is chmod [who][operator][permission] file, where:

who: u (user/owner), g (group), o (others), a (all)
operator: + (add), - (remove), = (set exactly)
permission: r (read), w (write), x (execute)

chmod u+x script.sh        # make executable for owner
chmod g+x script.sh        # make executable for group
chmod o-r file.txt         # remove read permission for others
chmod 755 script.sh        # rwxr-xr-x (owner: rwx, group: rx, others: rx)

Make files in a directory executable for the group

chmod -R g+x /path/to/directory

Input/Output Redirection

Save output to a file

Use > to write stdout to a file (overwrites) or >> to append.

ls -la > output.txt            # write output to file (overwrite)
ls -la >> output.txt           # append output to file
sw_vers > system-info.txt      # save system version info to file

Save only error output to a file

Use 2> to redirect stderr to a file. To suppress errors entirely, redirect to /dev/null.

find / -name "*.log" 2> errors.txt       # save only errors to file
find / -name "*.log" 2>> errors.txt      # append errors to file
find / -name "*.log" 2> /dev/null        # suppress all errors
find / -name "*.log" > out.txt 2> err.txt  # save stdout and stderr separately

Pass parameters from a file to a command

xargs - construct argument list and execute utility

cat files.txt | xargs rm               # delete all files listed in files.txt
cat hosts.txt | xargs -I {} ping -c 1 {}  # ping each host listed in hosts.txt
xargs chmod +x < scripts.txt           # make all files listed in scripts.txt executable

Chaining Commands

Run multiple independent commands in one line

Use ; to run commands sequentially regardless of whether the previous command succeeded.

cd ~/Downloads; ls; du -sh .      # change dir, list files, show size — all run no matter what
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

Pipe commands — pass output to next command

Use | to pass the stdout of one command as stdin to the next. Commands are dependent — each step works on the result of the previous.

ls -la | grep ".log"              # list files, then filter for .log files
ps aux | grep "Safari"            # list processes, then filter for Safari
cat errors.txt | sort | uniq      # read file, sort lines, remove duplicates

Use backticks to control execution order

Backticks ` execute the inner command first and insert its output into the outer command. Use $() as the modern equivalent — same behavior, easier to nest.

echo "Hostname: `hostname`"             # execute hostname first, embed result
chmod +x `find . -name "*.sh"`         # find all .sh files first, then make them executable
echo "Today is $(date +%Y-%m-%d)"      # modern syntax with $()
rm $(cat files-to-delete.txt)          # delete files listed in a file

FileVault and Security

Get Status

FileVault status

fdesetup - FileVault configuration tool

fdesetup status

Check Secure Token users

sysadminctl

sysadminctl -secureTokenStatus jschlaht

Gatekeeper status

spctl - SecAssessment system policy security

spctl --status

System Integrity Protection (SIP) status

csrutil – Configure system security policies

csrutil status

Cleanup Tools & Reset Commands

Clear Cache

Flush DNS cache

dscacheutil – gather information, statistics and initiate queries to the Directory Service cache.

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

Clear user/system cache

rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/*
sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/*

Reset processes and systems

Reset printing system

sudo rm -r /System/Library/Printers/ 
sudo rm -r /Library/Printers/