Programmer: Lifelong Learning: Working Effectively with iTerm2

Install iTerm2

Install it with brew, check here for more HomeBrew tips and tricks

brew tap caskroom/cask
brew cask install iterm2

# or install iterm2-beta
# brew tap homebrew/cask-versions
# brew cask install iterm2-beta

install shell-integration

Install from menu: iTerm2 > Install Shell Integration

Change Default Settings to Make iTerm2 Even Better

To make iTerm2 even better, we can change its default settings by pressing Cmd+, or open menu iTerm2 -> Preferences.

Reuse previous session’s directory

Profiles > Default > General > Working Directory > Reuse previous session’s directory

Store command history/directory info

Check Save copy/paste and command history at General > Magic Section.
- So we can use the history, recent directory even after restart iTerm

Restore last windows after restart

Ensure Preferences > Advanced > Restore window contents at startup is set to Yes in iTerm (default to true)
Ensure “Close windows when quitting an app” is off in Mac’s System Preferences >General

Disable “Quit iTerm2?” confirm dialog

By default, iTerm2 will ask us whether we really want to quit or close sessions. We always click OK. Even we accidentally quit iTerms, we can just reopen it, it will restore previous tabs.

So let’s disable all confirm dialogs for closing at Preferences -> General -> Closing section and uncheck all.

Other Settings

Enable “Check for updates automatically” at General -> Services. (iTerms’s pretty useful, so why not keep it to the latest.)

Keyboard Shortcuts for iTerm2

Keys	Action
Cmd+\	Show Annotations
Cmd+Click	Clickable Links
Cmd+Shift+H	Paste History
Cmd+k	Clear buffer
Cmd+Shift+O	Open Quickly(Search tabs)
Cmd+;	Autocomplete
Cmd+Shift+;	Show Command History
Cmd+Shift+H	Show Paste History
Cmd+Option+/	Recent Directories popup

Bash emacs mode shortcuts

Keys	Action
CTRL-A	Move cursor to the beginning of the line
CTRL-E	Move to the end of the line
CTRL-K	Kill forward to the end of a line
CTRL-U	Kill the line from the beginning to this point
^abc^def	Run previous command, replacing abc with def
Option+left(right)	Move backward(forward) one word

Tips for iTerm2

Copy to pasteboard on selection
Cmd+k to clear current buffer vs Cmd+r or the clear bash command.
- Use Cmd+k: clear current buffer, if you don’t want cmd+f to search old history

Command History - Cmd+Shift+;

Type to search, up/down to select

Paste History - Cmd+Shift+H

Works for multiple-lines command

Split Screening

Cmd+d for horizontal split
Cmd+Shift+d for vertical split

highlight errors and warnings

Preferences > Profiles > Advanced > Triggers > Edit

(?i:.*error.*)                     // Yellow on Black
(?i:.*(warning|warn).*)            // Orange on Black
(?i:.*FATAL.*)                     // White on Red

Make Option+left(right) work

Preferences > Profiles > Keys

Keyboard Shortcut: Option+Left	Action: Send Escape Sequence	Esc+ b
Keyboard Shortcut: Option+Right	Action: Send Escape Sequence	Esc+ f

imgcat

Show the image in the command line.

badge

A badge is a large text label that appears in the top right of a terminal session to provide dynamic status, such as the current host name or git branch

Preferences>Profiles>General>Badge (session.username)@(session.hostname)

Toolbet

Track long running command

Edit > Marks and Annotations > Alert on next mark

Working Effectively with iTerm2