iTerm2 is an open source replacement for Apple's Terminal. It's highly customizable and comes with a lot of useful features.
Use Homebrew to download and install:
brew install --cask iterm2Here are some suggested settings you can change or set, they are all optional.
- Set hot-key to open and close the terminal to
command + option + i - Go to profiles -> Default -> Terminal -> Check silence bell to disable the terminal session from making any sound
- Download one of iTerm2 color schemes and then set these to your default profile colors
- Change the cursor text and cursor color to yellow make it more visible
- Change the font to 14pt Source Code Pro Lite. Source Code Pro can be downloaded using Homebrew
brew tap homebrew/cask-fonts && brew install --cask font-source-code-pro - If you're using BASH instead of ZSH you can add
export CLICOLOR=1line to your~/.bash_profilefile for nice coloring of listings
You might be familiar with shortcuts to skip a word (⌥) or go to start/end of the line (⌘). iTerm is not set up to work with these shortcuts by default but here's how you set them up:
Open up iTerm2 preferences (⌘ + ,) -> Profiles -> Keys -> Click on + icon (add new Keyboard shortcut).
| shortcut | action | Esc+ |
|---|---|---|
| ⌘← | Send Escape Sequence | OH |
| ⌘→ | Send Escape Sequence | OF |
| ⌥← | Send Escape Sequence | b |
| ⌥→ | Send Escape Sequence | f |
If you have enabled sudo authentication with Touch ID you will also need to set Preferences -> Advanced -> Allow sessions to survive logging out and back in to No in iTerm2 preferences.