Is there documentation of commands that only work within Applescript’s “do shell script”? Stuff like:
do shell script "System_Profiler"
Here’s a reference that might be helpful but it will require that you become somewhat familiar with the shell.
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/
– Rob
Open a terminal window and hit the tab key 2x. You will be prompted to list all the shell commands that are available in your current path.
HTH -john
Thanks to both of you. I think I need both of these to get where I need to go. I am running 10.2.8 and to consolidate information for anyone reading this thread. I start a terminal session and type “/bin/sh” to get to the shell that Applescript uses(I only read that technote last week). Then, type “tab” twice. That gives me the prompt to display all commands. Do I need to install or create man pages for this shell? I do have a man page for “osascript” but not one for “System_Profiler”. So there seem to be entries in the document Rob has shown me that are not available as a man page of my shell.
In any event, thanks again to both of you. When I look at Applescript, the “do shell script” and “SOAP” commands seem to be incredibly powerful. Yet, neither subject seems to be marketed by Apple.
System_Profiler doesn’t have a man page but I believe that’s because it doesn’t take many arguments. Typing “System_Profiler -h” (without the quotes) will give you a list of options that you can invoke.
Most command line tools do have a man page. The few exceptions will usually have a -help or -h command that will give you a brief list of the options for that particular program. In addtion, most programs that have man pages also allow the -help or -h switch.
HTH -john