Bring OSX terminal to front after command finishes

Question

I'm looking for a way for the terminal to get my attention after a command finishes. Something like this:

$ ./lengthy_command.sh ; focus_terminal

Is there any easy way to do that on Snow Leopard?

Gordon Davisson · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-04 03:45:27Z

11

$ ./lengthy_command.sh; osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to activate'

If you want to get even fancier:

$ ./lengthy_command.sh; osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal"' -e 'activate' -e 'display alert "Done!"' -e 'end tell'

answered Dec 3, 2012 at 5:17

Gordon Davisson

35.2k5 gold badges68 silver badges73 bronze badges

My god. That craziness actually works. :p
– Steve Bennett
Commented Dec 4, 2012 at 2:24
This AppleScript, open a new Terminal window, how can I just focus the existing Terminal window?
– user221797
Commented Nov 3, 2016 at 11:46
@user221797 These commands shouldn't open a new Terminal window unless there's no existing window to focus. Are you using some other terminal program instead of /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app? If so, you need to activate that one, instead of "Terminal".
– Gordon Davisson
Commented Nov 6, 2016 at 18:03

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