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Install multiple packages at once.md

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Install multiple Homebrew packages at once

Before starting, ensure Homebrew is installed correctly by typing brew. If it doesn't work, follow their instructions here (ensure you do the final instructions after running the command!)

  1. Open TextEdit, and create a new document

  2. Go to Format → Make Plain Text

Menu bar selection of Format, Make Plain Text

  1. Add in the syntax after brew install in the Formulae, each on a new line (e.g. brew install --cask utm becomes --cask utm and brew install macfuse becomes macfuse) — An example file can be found here

An example of what a file might look like once formulae has been added

  1. Save this as packages.txt somewhere (I put it in my Downloads folder)

  2. Open Terminal cd to your Downloads folder:

cd Downloads/
  1. Then install all the packages recursively in packages.txt by running the command:
brew install $(grep -v '^--cask' packages.txt) && brew install --cask $(grep '^--cask' packages.txt | sed 's/^--cask //')

brew install can install multiple packages at once by just queueing them up, one after another (e.g. brew install gh bitwarden-cli), however has to install cask and non-cask packages separately. The above command separates this into two commands.

  1. Let Homebrew do its magic!

Install multiple Mac App Store packages at once

Before starting, this requires the mas package to be installed via Homebrew (brew install mas) and you have to be logged in to the Mac App Store. You can do this by opening the App Store (the mas signin command no longer works).

Reinstalling a Mac? Find your Mac App Store Apps by using the System Information app (you can search for it as an app or go to > About This Mac > More Info... > System Report... > System Information), then go to Software > Applications and use the Obtained from header to sort by App Store.

My current setup is using mas install to get my previously purchased/installed apps. I do this recursively through my mas-apps.txt file using the command:

grep -v '^\s*#' apps.txt | awk '{print $1}' | xargs -n 1 mas install

Breakdown:

  1. grep -v '^\s*#' apps.txt - Removes any lines starting with # (so I can comment them out), or empty lines

  2. awk '{print $1}' - Extracts only the first field (the app ID), ignoring everything after it

  3. xargs -n 1 mas install - Passes the cleaned app IDs one by one to mas install

mas-apps.txt setup:

I have set up this file with two columns, the app-id and it's name. The name is only there to help me identify whether I still want it. This is why the above command is a bit more complex.

Adjusting to purchase rather than install

You could adjust this to 'purchase' (which doesn't actually buy things, only gets free things - see the mas documentation):

grep -v '^\s*#' apps.txt | awk '{print $1}' | xargs -n 1 mas purchase

Note: You also need to be logged in to use this command