In a Mac OS 10 Hints Weblog entry last week , my colleague Rob Griffiths outlined a way to promptly change the working directory in Terminal — the directory you ’re “ in”—to the presently viewed brochure in the Finder . As Rob put it :

Rob then went on , in distinctive Mac OS X Hints style , to show you how to make your own resolution to this dilemma using Mac OS X ’s build - in technologies ; in this case , a combination of Automator and AppleScript . If you ’re a frequent user of Terminal , Rob ’s “ hint ” teach you how to expend these feature while also providing a utile tool .

But — you knew there was a “ but ” coming , right?—if there ’s one thing I ’ve learn over the years writingMac Gems , it ’s that there ’s always a market for an well-heeled , or even just a different , root . As Macworld Forums member HumanJHawkins wrote in a assembly thread about Rob ’s column :

Terminal Here Plugin contextual menu

As it turns out , it ’s even easier than that . As with many OS X “ need , ” you ’ll find that a clever developer has already provided the solution . In fact , there are at least two root out there , each of which takes a dissimilar glide slope .

My best-loved — and a utility I ’ve been using for years now — is PyeHouse Development’sTerminal Here Plugin 0.95 (; spare ) , which does exactly what our forums penis has requested : After instal Terminal Here Plugin , if you Control / right - cluck on a folder ( or inside an open window ) in the Finder , you ’ll see a new choice in the resulting contextual menu : Open Terminal Here . choose this point launches Terminal ( or opens a new Terminal windowpane if Terminal is already run ) and changes the working directory to the choose folder . ( If you ’ve never establish a contextual menu plugin before , you simply spend it into ~/Library / Contextual Menu Items and then leave and log back in . )

For those who do n’t utilize contextual menus much , perhaps a more useful choice is Marc Liyanage’sOpen Terminal Here (; devoid , donations accepted ) , an AppleScript - based coating designed to be pose in the toolbar or sidebar of Finder window . you’re able to use it in one of two mode : If you ’re currently “ in ” the Finder folder you want to use in Terminal , you only click the Open Terminal Here icon in the toolbar or sidebar of that Finder windowpane — you’ll briefly see Open Terminal Here in the Dock as it plunge and quits , and then a new Terminal windowpane will spread with that Finder folder as the current act directory . The second way to employ this utility — especially useful if you are n’t currently viewing the desired Finder windowpane — is to drag a Finder booklet onto the Open Terminal Here icon in the Finder ( or in the Dock , if you ’ve added Open Terminal Here to the Dock ) . Again , a fresh Terminal window will be open with that pamphlet as the current make directory .

Terminal window after using Terminal Here Plugin to open the Desktop folder

One quirkiness common to both Terminal Here Plugin and Open Terminal Here is that they both open a newfangled Terminal window , even if one is already open . In other words , you ca n’t expend one of these root to switch the working directory for a Terminal window in which you ’re already working . ( To do that , you could always use the old Terminal standby : type

Terminal Here Plugin is compatible with Mac OS X 10.2 and afterward . Open Terminal Here is compatible with Mac OS X 10.1 and by and by .