How to copy Unix file path in OS X Yosemite
Just select the file itself in Finder and press CmdC or go to Edit » Copy. You can then paste the path directly to a terminal window.
Note that this will escape special characters.
If you want the path in human-readable form, you need to do the following:
- Open Utilities/Automator.app
- Create a new Service
- Set it to receive no input from Finder.app
- Drag Run AppleScript from the left pane to the right
Paste the following into the field:
tell application "Finder" set sel to the selection as text set the clipboard to POSIX path of sel end tell
It should look like this:
Save the service under any name you like, e.g. Copy human-readable path.
This is part one. Now, set a keyboard shortcut:
- Head to » System Preferences » Keyboard » Shortcuts
- Go to the Services section and scroll down
Set a keyboard shortcut for your service
Et voilà, now press that shorcut when you need the path of any selected Finder item.
Open up the “Terminal” in Applications > Utilities > Terminal
and then drag the file into the window. The full Unix path of the file will show up.
Right-click (or control-click) on the file icon, then hold down the option key. In the pop-up menu that appears there will be a "Copy "filename" as Pathname" menu item. That menu item will put the POSIX path to the item on the clipboard.