---
title: 'Open any folder from the Terminal app in a Finder on macOS'
date: '2022-07-21'
thumbnail: '/thumbnails/terminal.png'
slug: 'how-to-open-any-folder-from-terminal-in-finder-on-mac'
tag: 'tools'
canonicalUrl: 'https://amanhimself.dev/blog/how-to-open-any-folder-from-terminal-in-finder-on-mac/'
---

Often, I struggle or want to open the current directory I am working from the Terminal app to the Finder window on macOS.

I have been a macOS user for almost eight years now, and it never occurred to me that I couldn't open the current location from the Terminal app. Until recently, a frustration point led me to find the solution. Again, though, I am surprised by its simplicity.

To open the current working directory in the Finder window, use the following command:

```shell
open .
```

The `open` command opens a file or a folder. It exists on the macOS.

You can do more with this command. The `/` argument opens the root directory.

```shell
open /
```

A specific directory is also allowed:

```shell
open ~/Desktop
```

Using the option `R`, you can locate a specific file or folder in the Finder:

```shell
open -R /blog
```

## Opening files

There are more things that the `open` command can do. It can open files. For example, to open a markdown file in the default editor or IDE:

```shell
open ./blog/mm-yy/your-file-name.md
```

The above command opens the markdown file in the Xcode. You can pass the `-t` option to open in the file in a text editor.

```shell
open -t ./blog/mm-yy/your-file-name.md
```

## Opening URLs

It can do more than open files and folders. It can also open a URL in the default web browser set up on your machine:

```shell
open https://www.google.com
```

Use the option `a` to override the default web browser and specify a different one.

```shell
open -a Safari https://www.google.com
```

It also be used with other flags to override a browser's default behavior. For example, I recently learned that when testing locally, the CORS can be bypassed to fetch files from the localhost.

```shell
open -a "Google Chrome Canary"  --args --user-data-dir="/tmp/chrome_dev_test" --disable-web-security
```


Open any folder from the Terminal app in a Finder on macOS

Setup Macbook M1 for Web and React Native development

---
title: 'Using Bower With Heroku'
date: '2016-12-29'
thumbnail: '/thumbnails/heroku.png'
slug: 'using-bower-with-heroku'
tag: 'tools'
canonicalUrl: 'https://hackernoon.com/using-bower-with-heroku-cdc791320c88'
---

> [Originally Published at Hackernoon.com](https://hackernoon.com/using-bower-with-heroku-cdc791320c88)

Yes, I use [Bower](http://bower.io) to maintain front-end dependencies, mostly for my side projects. Whatever you say, Bower is good and I am too anxious to mess with npm dependencies for front-end development. Plus, I feel that maintaining front-end dependencies with Bower helps in keeping my application’s skeleton clean.

So for last two of my projects, I have been using [Heroku](http://heroku.com) for deployment. Since I am maintaining front-end dependencies using Bower, I went through [_this article_](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/buildpacks) which is about generating buildpacks on Heroku. I find generating buildpacks adds unnecessary complexity in the process of application deployment, at least for _rapid prototyping_. Thus, I choose a different path. Adding Bower as an npm dependency seems an easy process and doesn’t add any kind of complexity. I find it’s great only if you are using Bower for rapid prototyping JavaScript applications.

After you are done with building your application, all you have to do is add `Bower` as an npm dependency in `package.json` file and then add a script under `npm scripts` to execute a command that will install bower dependencies before the application is deployed on Heroku.

Bower as dependency in `package.json` :

```json
"dependencies": {
     "bower": "1.8.0"
}
```

And then add a`postinstall` command in `npm scripts` :

```json
"scripts": {
    "postinstall": "./node\_modules/bower/bin/bower install"
}
```

You can read more about customizing [**Heroku Build Process here**](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/nodejs-support#customizing-the-build-process)**.**


Using Bower With Heroku

---
title: 'ATOM- An Editor of 21st Century'
date: '2016-07-14'
thumbnail: '/thumbnails/atom.png'
slug: 'atom-an-editor-of-21st-century'
tag: 'tools'
canonicalUrl: 'https://amanhimself.dev/blog/atom-an-editor-of-21st-century'
---

The [Atom](http://atom.io/) I am talking about is not a small particle in the world of developers. Built and maintained by Github and the community, it is more than just an editor.

In our world, in the world of developers, an editor plays an amount of significant role when it comes to writing code. They might seem just a tool, as a matter of fact, they are, but for someone who takes pleasure in writing code, it is an essential piece in their setup.

Using an editor is really a matter of choice, your comfort zone but the game of plugins have a big role to play. As yourself, I have tried my hands on different editors & IDEs and for now I have decide to settle with Atom for its enormous amount of plugins available. Another reason for me is that it’s written in JavaScript (exactly CoffeScript & since I am a JS enthusiast) and is completely free to use because of its open source normality.

It is inspiring to open-source community as well. Few months back, Facebook released there version called Nuclide which focus more on mobile development. Then there is Electron for building cross-platform desktop application. Both are based on Atom Shell.

Atom is mature in terms of plugins when comes to keeping the pace with newer technologies. When I started out with Node.js, I tried to stick with Webstorm IDE but soon Atom lured me for its support of frameworks like Ionic (a plugin called Ionic-Preview and I am still exploring) thanks to the community plugins and the other matter of fact that it’s open source.

![1](https://i.imgur.com/a5Ziwot.jpg)

## Packages

There are more than 4.5k +packages published already. To view, Open the Settings view by clicking Packages > Settings View > Open in the menu bar or by using the (cmd + ,) keyboard shortcut.

Atom Packages are categorized further into:

- Community packages: Packages written by people outside of GitHub’s Atom team.
- Core packages: These are developed by the Atom team and come bundled with Atom but you can disable them if they are no use to you.
- Development packages: Packages which you have on your machine and use in Atom from that local source.

Core Packages do provide support for most favorable programming/scripting languages but if you are using something out of the box then you must check the Community packages. Chances of finding the one are in your favour there.

If you are still unable to find what you are looking, you should try developing a package for yourself and then if you like share it with the community.

## TIP- Decreasing Startup Time

There may come a period of time when your Atom might behave sluggishly. What will you do?

- You’ll remove all the packages (a.k.a plugins) you don’t use but for some reason you had them installed,
- or there isn’t much use of that particular package and you can do without it,
- or it was there just for fun. But before removing the packages, one must know which package is consuming how much startup time. You might want some of those unnecessary packages to stay with you if you know they are not the real culprits who are slowing down your development environment.

![2](https://i.imgur.com/HEqlVPv.png)

I have seen (mostly on online forums) some developers groan about this kind of sluggishness but I haven’t met it yet.

**Recommended Packages**

Most of these packages are helpful in my daily JavaScript coding environment. I think they will be helpful to you too.

- open-recent (to continue where you left)
- sync-settings (do you work more than one machine? This for you)
- Ionic-Preview (for people who are working Ionic Framework)
- terminal-plus (terminal inside atom)
- atom-jade (there is support for ejs, handlebars, mustache too)
- jade (if you are into jade, this is a snippets package)
- js-hyperclick (as your project goes bigger, you will get addicted to it)
- atom-lupa (nice one if your daily musings includes React)
- autocomplete-modules (Node.js devs: autocompletes require statements)
- atom-pair (developed by the guys at Pusher, a must if you do pair coding)
- javascript-snippets (JavaScript and Node.js snippets)
- atom-nodejs-snippets (this is another Nodejs & JavaScript snippet package, made by me. Supports ES6 syntax)
- linter + linter-jshint
- atom-ternjs (JavaScript code intelligence for Atom)
- encourage (a nice one to have, if you are having a dark day, fun)

The main advantage of an editor like Atom is that you can highly customize it. You can hack it, make your own packages, or use the one that are already there in the community and bend them as per your needs.

## Lastly

![3](https://i.imgur.com/HIgoDE2.jpg)

_Note: At the time of writing this post, Webstorm IDE did not have support for frameworks like Ionic and the latest Atom Version is 1.8.0._


🔥 4 Posts filtered by tag "tools"

Open any folder from the Terminal app in a Finder on macOS

Setup Macbook M1 for Web and React Native development

Using Bower With Heroku

ATOM- An Editor of 21st Century