Bash Profile

The ~/.bash_profile file allows you to maintain links to various applications from the command line and setup our development environment. There are other files we can use to modify these but today we just want to be able to open files in Chrome, Safari, Sublime Text, and other files.

To do that you will need to partner up with someone. You're going to work together once you have everything installed on your computer to create aliases on your computer. This will require you to put your terminal knowledge to the test!

Goals

• Edit the ~/.bash_profile file
• File the exact path using pwd and tab-completion of apps
• Add alias for each application so files may be opened
• Open files and/or folders using your_alias_name . to test your script

Editing Bash Profile

• Navigate to your home directory using cd
• Open your .bash_profile file using nano ~/.bash_profile; this will open the file in your editor
• It might look like the following:

PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:$PATH"

Locating Application

Apps - you should find Safari, Chrome, Sublime Text, and WebStorm. Additionally, you may find Atom and any other editor/browser you like.

• In a new terminal tab, navigate to the root of your hard drive using cd /
• cd into the Applications directory
• ls -l to list all of your Applications
• Copy the application name to a blank text file (such as /Applications/WebStorm.app)
• Repeat for each app

Adding Aliases

• At the end of your .bash_profile file, you may add an alias. You'll need the exact path of your apps to do so.
• You can add an alias by assigning a command like so: alias ws='open -a /Applications/WebStorm.app'
• Here are the aliases you should use for each app:
  • subl for Sublime Text
  • safari for Safari
  • chrome for Chrome

Testing

• Save your .bash_profile
• Restart your terminal (and close all tabs)
• Until you close & restart terminal, your profile changes will not be seen!
• Create an HTML file using the touch command.
• Open it with each application you found!