iTerm2 is an open source replacement for Apple's Terminal. It's highly customizable and comes with a lot of useful features.
You can get the app from iTerm2 downloads page. Once downloaded, drag and drop the iTerm application file into your Applications folder.
Note: Instead of downloading and installing iTerm2 manually, you can use Homebrew
brew cask install iterm2
Here 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 from project's github repository.
Note: Instead of downloading and installing Source Code Pro manually, you can use Homebrew
brew tap caskroom/fonts && brew cask install font-source-code-pro
- If you're using BASH instead of ZSH you can add
export CLICOLOR=1
line to your~/.bash_profile
file 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 | send |
---|---|---|
⌘← | SEND ESC SEQ | OH |
⌘→ | SEND ESC SEQ | OF |
⌥← | SEND ESC SEQ | b |
⌥→ | SEND ESC SEQ | f |