Mac (Bash) to Windows (Command Prompt) Mappings

Until late 2018, I’d been a Windows guy most of my life. Then a new project at work required everyone to get Macs, so it was time to learn. This post is basically a “note to self” for command syntax when switching back-n-forth.

Clear the screen #

Mac:

clear

Windows:

cls

Display all contents of a dir #

Mac:

ls -al

Windows:

dir

Change dir #

Both:

cd <dir>

Rename file #

Mac:

mv <file> <file>

Windows:

ren <file> <file>

Copy file #

Mac:

cp <file> <file>

Windows:

xcopy <file> <file>

Copy dir and subdirs #

Mac:

cp -R <dir> <dir>

Windows:

xcopy /s <dir> <dir>

Delete file #

Mac:

rm <file>

Windows:

del <file>

Delete dir #

Mac:

rm -rf <dir>

Windows:

rmdir /s/q <dir>

Display file contents #

Mac:

cat <file>

Windows:

type <file>

Print current working dir #

Mac:

pwd

Windows:

cd

Change file timestamp #

Mac:

touch <file>

Windows:

type nul > <file>

Display current user #

Mac:

whoami

Windows:

echo %USERNAME%

Display all env vars #

Mac:

env

Windows:

set

Print PATH #

Mac:

echo $PATH

Windows:

echo %PATH%

Print each PATH entry on new line #

Mac:

echo $PATH | tr ':' '\n'

Windows:

echo %PATH:;=&echo.%

Show location of a command #

Mac:

which <command>

Windows:

where <command>

Search file for pattern, ignore case #

Mac:

grep -i "<pattern>" <file>

Windows:

findstr /i "<pattern>" <file>

Search for file recursively #

Mac:

find . -name *<file>*

Windows:

dir *<file>* /b/s

Display networking info #

Mac:

ifconfig

Windows:

ipconfig /all

Display aliases #

Mac:

alias

Windows:

doskey /macros

Create alias #

Mac:

alias <alias>="<command>"

Windows:

doskey <alias>=<command> $*

Copy command output to clipboard #

Mac:

<command> | pbcopy

Windows:

<command> | clip

Display a line of text #

Both:

echo <text>

Display command history #

Mac:

history

Windows:

doskey /history