macOS Command Line – Programming Languages Available from Terminal

command linemacosmojavescript

I need to do a few little scripts on my Mac but I don't really want to install Xcode or Python for a full environment, just a quick command line deal.
Does macOS come with anything suitable out of the box?

As an example I want to process files in a directory and do some custom logic.

Best Answer

Terminal runs the Unix shell, (bash, zsh, and others) which is obviously a command line scripting environment, which can execute complex scripts, particularly file processing.

Python 2.7 comes bundled with MacOS, and always has done. Future?.

Ruby, Perl are also included.

AppleScript and its JavaScript equivalent (docs) are also there out-of-the box.

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ID3 Tag – Best Command-Line ID3 Tools for macOS

If you have Homebrew installed (highly recommended), you can just do:

brew install id3lib

This installs several id3 command-line tools, including id3tag, id3convert, id3cp and id3info. No need for python or perl scripting; just use regular shell commands.

Usage: id3tag [OPTIONS]... [FILES]...
   -h         --help            Print help and exit
   -V         --version         Print version and exit
   -1         --v1tag           Render only the id3v1 tag (default=off)
   -2         --v2tag           Render only the id3v2 tag (default=off)
   -aSTRING   --artist=STRING   Set the artist information
   -ASTRING   --album=STRING    Set the album title information
   -sSTRING   --song=STRING     Set the title information
   -cSTRING   --comment=STRING  Set the comment information
   -CSTRING   --desc=STRING     Set the comment description
   -ySTRING   --year=STRING     Set the year
   -tSTRING   --track=STRING    Set the track number
   -TSTRING   --total=STRING    Set the total number of tracks
   -gSHORT    --genre=SHORT     Set the genre
   -w         --warning         Turn on warnings (for debugging) (default=off)
   -n         --notice          Turn on notices (for debugging) (default=off)

Package command line tools into an automator script or app

If you are looking to install some common command line tools which are not included in Mac OS X, you might have some success in the Rudix program, which offers pre-compiled versions of many utilities in a ready-to-install DMG/pkg format.

Rudix: The hassle-free way to get Unix programs on Mac OS X

Best Answer

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ID3 Tag – Best Command-Line ID3 Tools for macOS

Package command line tools into an automator script or app

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