Comments on: Using it’s all text on Mac OS X

By: John Morrissey

John Morrissey — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:13:03 +0000

It’s been a while since your original post so FWIW, I wrote this version:

http://horde.net/~jwm/software/misc/iterm-editor

which is self-contained (one file), honors standard shell EDITOR/VISUAL environment variables, and doesn’t require a separate iTerm profile.

By: shane

shane — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:45:27 +0000

Thanks for info on this. I have been looking forever on a way to do it. I wrote this article with it as well. Here is the way I did it. Btw, no need for symlinks because found away around from another article. # is your username $ mkdir /Users/somename/bin $ create the two files below $ chmod 755 /Users/somename/bin/emacs-terminal.scpt $ chmod 755 /Users/somename/bin/editfile $ Then edit prefs of ItsAllText and add the path: /Users/somename/bin/editfile # It will not be selectable, only .app files are. Below are the files:


#!/usr/bin/osascript
# open Apple Script Editor and and save to this path:
# /Users/somename/bin/emacs-terminal.scpt

on run argv
   tell application "Terminal"
        set filename to item 1 of argv
        set filename to do shell script ¬
            "perl -e \"print quotemeta ('" & POSIX path of filename & "');\""
        do script "emacs " & filename & "; exit"
   end tell
end run


#!/bin/sh 
# open your faviorite editor and save the file to:                                                                                                                                                                         
# emacs /Users/somename/bin/editfile
# http://blog.asyd.net/2009/09/using-its-all-text-on-mac-os-x/                                                                                                                     
# http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20040617170055379                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                                                   
if [ -z $1 ]                                                                                                                                                                       
then                                                                                                                                                                               
    echo "No filename was given as args."                                                                                                                                          
    exit;                                                                                                                                                                          
fi                                                                                                                                                                                 
logger "ITS ALL TEXT: $1"                                                                                                                                                          
linkbase="/tmp/firefox-$$"                                                                                                                                                         
extension=${1##*.}                                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                                                   
link=$linkbase.$extension                                                                                                                                                          
#ln -s "$1" $link                                                                                                                                                                  
#exec /usr/bin/osascript /Users/sbradley/bin/emacs-terminal.scpt $link                                                                                                             
exec /usr/bin/osascript /Users/sbradley/bin/emacs-terminal.scpt "$1"

By: jolleyjoe

jolleyjoe — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:26:40 +0000

How would you do this with the default Terminal.app on Mac OSX?

By: asyd

asyd — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:15:57 +0000

Kevin Guinn :
Fair enough. Different needs, different methods. But, since your blog was the among the only sources of info on this topic, I wanted to share an alternative.

And thanks for sharing!

By: Kevin Guinn

Kevin Guinn — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:45:53 +0000

Fair enough. Different needs, different methods. But, since your blog was the among the only sources of info on this topic, I wanted to share an alternative.

Technically, I suppose you could swap out the “normal” vim for a link to /Applications/MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim and get a unified set of preferences, etc. regardless of if you were using console mode or “graphical” mode. (This would more closely resemble what I actually get on my Linux systems.)

By: asyd

asyd — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:44:01 +0000

Hello Kevin,

thanks for your reply! Indeed your method is working, however, since I use vim (inside iTerm+sceren) every days, I was looking for an exactly similar way. Following your method, I need to use ITerm+screen+vim (to edit local files) and MacVim (to edit textarea), which is an another application, meaning different environment, behavior, etc.

By: Kevin Guinn

Kevin Guinn — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:34:24 +0000

I am using my method to enter this comment, so it is definitely working:
(Adding all steps, even those I consider somewhat obvious)

1. Download the MacVim port from http://code.google.com/p/macvim/
2. extract the *.tbz
3. put the MacVim.app where you desire (e.g. /Applications)
4. put the mvim script where you desire (e.g /usr/bin) [helps to use a terminal here so you can verify ownership and permissions are sane]
5. recommended: symlink gvim to mvim if you are a multi-platform type
6. configure It’s All Text to use mvim (e.g. /usr/bin/mvim) as its editor.
7. party on…

Note, not quite as cool, but I use gvim with IAT! on my Linux and Windows installs, so at least I have a consistent experience…