Where to find usr/bin/etc. in finder

I just bought a new mac and am trying to move my Perl programs to it.

The terminal tells me that perl is installed to user/bin/perl

But how do I move my Perl programs to this directory? It's unclear how to get to this directory in the finder.

If anyone can help, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

"/usr/bin" should be reserved for System programs, you shouldn't be installing your personal programs in there. Keep your programs with your home directory and use the command "#!/usr/bin/perl" to invoke it from your program..

rzr, thanks very much. (In the meantime, I managed to find the "Go" command, but you have a good point.) By "home," are you referring to the documents directory?

Also, what's the filepath to the documents directory?

Thanks very much

Also, if I did as you instructed above, where would Perl save my output files? There is no native "Perl" directory in /user/bin.

Perl is an interpreter - for your programs. So you just invoke it from command line.

#!/usr/bin/perl

belongs at the top of your perl program as the very first line. This line says what to call to interpret the code. So if it is a shell script it would have something like

$!/bin/sh

Then you have to make your file executable to run it. Or you can just invoke perl on your file.
perl myfile.perl

You don't have to move your perl files anywhere - just execute them with perl.

Home is /Users/<your user name>
All personal files and pretty much everything you work on should reside in a directory inside your home directory. You can get to your home directory in terminal by typing
cd ~

By "home" I'm referring to the "/Users/<your username>" folder. This will contain other folder like Documents, Movies, Pictures, Downloads, Applications and so on. All of these folders and their content belong to your account only..

urbaneast said:

Also, if I did as you instructed above, where would Perl save my output files? There is no native "Perl" directory in /user/bin.

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The Perl scripts will save output wherever they are designed to do so. You'll have to consult the developers for this one.

vansmith said:

The Perl scripts will save output wherever they are designed to do so. You'll have to consult the developers for this one.

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If its not specified, it'll generally be in the directory you are in when you run the script.

I hate typing on the iPad.

I hate typing on the iPad.

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Have you tried the dictation function? I actually like using that - but you can't use it in libraries and it is weird talking so formally.

IvanLasston said:

Have you tried the dictation function? I actually like using that - but you can't use it in libraries and it is weird talking so formally.

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No, if I do that... I can't use it for work.

Then how about an external keyboard?
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Dysfunction said:

If its not specified, it'll generally be in the directory you are in when you run the script.

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Absolutely which will cause problems if the individual puts the script in /usr/bin.

vansmith said:

Absolutely which will cause problems if the individual puts the script in /usr/bin.

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Aye - then it becomes visible to everyone as an executable. This is actually how some Trojans work - they try to install themselves into known $PATH locations - so that everyone can run them. Imagine replacing the command 'ls' with something harmful. Generally a good idea not to install or put anything into /usr/bin /sbin /bin (there are others too) unless you know why you are doing it.

IvanLasston said:

Then how about an external keyboard?
I've been pleased with Zagg's offerings. They even have back lights now.
iPad Keyboards, Cases, & Stands | ZAGG

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Veddy nice. Now to wait until all the birthdays are done

Thanks again for your help. I am the developer, and on the PC, the output files were indeed saved in the folder I was in when running the script. I wasn't sure if it was the same story here.
I prefer to have my Perl scripts in the same folder as the output, which is why I saved all of them in a

So one more question: How does one access /usr/bin from the finder? I know you can get to it using the "Go" command, but is there another way? I'm asking because I'd like to open up a .csv output file using Excel.

Thanks again.

I think you need to rethink your understanding of that directory. You shouldn't be interacting with it directly. If you've put files there, remove them. Instead, think about putting your scripts elsewhere and add that path to your PATH.

urbaneast said:

So one more question: How does one access /usr/bin from the finder? I know you can get to it using the "Go" command, but is there another way? .

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Finder Shift>Command>G type /usr/bin and when the window shows up with it, and if you use this quite a bit, the bin Folder at the top of the window, click and drag it into Finder Sidebar and then its at your disposale in 1 click

urbaneast said:

Thanks again for your help. I am the developer, and on the PC, the output files were indeed saved in the folder I was in when running the script. I wasn't sure if it was the same story here.
I prefer to have my Perl scripts in the same folder as the output, which is why I saved all of them in a

So one more question: How does one access /usr/bin from the finder? I know you can get to it using the "Go" command, but is there another way? I'm asking because I'd like to open up a .csv output file using Excel.

Thanks again.

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This is akin you putting all of your files in the /Windows/System32 directory. You know you wouldn't do that if you are a developer..so don't look to put anything in the /usr/bin folder..

Raz0rEdge said:

This is akin you putting all of your files in the /Windows/System32 directory. You know you wouldn't do that if you are a developer..so don't look to put anything in the /usr/bin folder..

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I'm not a developer, but an academic who happens to program in Perl. However, I do understand that it's not ideal to store files there. I originally did so because I needed to to know the path to the directory where your input files live. In Windows, you can easily find that for any given file. Here, it took some trial and error to find (though it's simple in hindsight).

The core issue was that I didn't know the filepath into the Documents sub-folder, which is why I stored it in usr/bin. I've now figured out the filepath (Documents/[whatever],) so I've moved the Perl folder out of usr/bin.

In any case, thanks for the help, Razor.

TattooedMac said:

Finder Shift>Command>G type /usr/bin and when the window shows up with it, and if you use this quite a bit, the bin Folder at the top of the window, click and drag it into Finder Sidebar and then its at your disposale in 1 click

Click to expand...

Thank you, Tattooed!