Create a file called ‘showHiddenFiles’
in Terminal, type:


chmod +x /path/to/showHiddenFiles


Make sure the location is on your path. I just use /usr/local/bin since it’s already on my path.

Edit that file with these contents:


#!/bin/sh
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles $1
killall Finder


Now whenever you want to hide/show hidden files, just launch Terminal and type:

% showHiddenFiles true
– or –
% showHiddenFiles false

And don’t forget you can just type the first few letters (i.e. ‘showH’), then hit TAB and Terminal should auto-complete the file name for you. Then you can just add ‘true’ or ‘false’.

Assuming you’re using bash:

Launch Terminal

% pico ~/.bash_profile

Add a line with a variable followed by whatever command you what it to perform, such as:

webroot='cd /Volumes/apache/webroot'

CNTRL-X, then press ‘y’ to save the file and exit edit mode
now restart bash_profile;

% source ~/.bash_profile

That’s it!
Now anytime you want you can launch Terminal, simple type % webroot, and you’ll be taken to ‘/Volumes/apache/webroot’

Now will all the typing this will save you, there’ll be more time for beer at the end of the day.

Let’s say you often go to /Volumes/development/depot/mainbranch. Let’s create an alias to that called ‘mb’ for ‘mainbranch’ (this can be whatever you want, of course.
Simply launch terminal.
Type: alias mb=’cd /Volumes/development/depot/mainbranch’
Done!
Now just type ‘mb’ at the command prompt and you’ll be taken directly to that directory!
Sweet!

Note, you can also do the same to launch applications:
alias tx=‘open /Applications/TextEdit.app/’

checking build system type... i386-apple-darwin9.2.2
checking host system type... i386-apple-darwin9.2.2
checking for gcc... gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name...
configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables
See `config.log' for more details.
Here’ all the important stuff from the log:
## ----------- ##
## Core tests. ##
## ----------- ##
configure:2062: checking build system type
configure:2080: result: i386-apple-darwin9.2.2
configure:2102: checking host system type
configure:2117: result: i386-apple-darwin9.2.2
configure:2187: checking for gcc
configure:2203: found /usr/bin/gcc
configure:2214: result: gcc
configure:2452: checking for C compiler version
configure:2459: gcc --version >&5
i686-apple-darwin8-gcc-4.0.1 (GCC) 4.0.1 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 5367)
Copyright (C) 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
configure:2462: $? = 0
configure:2469: gcc -v >&5
Using built-in specs.
Target: i686-apple-darwin8
Configured with: /private/var/tmp/gcc/gcc-5367.obj~1/src/configure --disable-checking -enable-werror --prefix=/usr --mandir=/share/man --enable-languages=c,objc,c++,obj-c++ --program-transform-name=/^[cg][^.-]*$/s/$/-4.0/ --with-gxx-include-dir=/include/c++/4.0.0 --with-slibdir=/usr/lib --build=powerpc-apple-darwin8 --with-arch=nocona --with-tune=generic --program-prefix= --host=i686-apple-darwin8 --target=i686-apple-darwin8
Thread model: posix
gcc version 4.0.1 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 5367)
configure:2472: $? = 0
configure:2479: gcc -V >&5
gcc: argument to `-V' is missing
configure:2482: $? = 1
configure:2505: checking for C compiler default output file name
configure:2532: gcc    conftest.c  >&5
/usr/bin/ld: /usr/lib/gcc/i686-apple-darwin8/4.0.1/../../../libSystem.dylib unknown flags (type) of section 6 (__TEXT,__literal16) in load command 0
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
configure:2535: $? = 1
configure:2573: result:
configure: failed program was:
| /* confdefs.h.  */
| #define PACKAGE_NAME "sqlite"
| #define PACKAGE_TARNAME "sqlite"
| #define PACKAGE_VERSION "3.5.7"
| #define PACKAGE_STRING "sqlite 3.5.7"
| #define PACKAGE_BUGREPORT ""
| /* end confdefs.h.  */
|
| int
| main ()
| {
|
|   ;
|   return 0;
| }
configure:2580: error: C compiler cannot create executables
See `config.log' for more details.
## ----------- ##
## confdefs.h. ##
## ----------- ##
#define PACKAGE_NAME "sqlite"
#define PACKAGE_TARNAME "sqlite"
#define PACKAGE_VERSION "3.5.7"
#define PACKAGE_STRING "sqlite 3.5.7"
#define PACKAGE_BUGREPORT ""
configure: exit 77