cot command in CotEditor on MacCotEditor has 'cot' command-line tool which allows you to control CotEditor from the command-line. To use cot command, install it at first.
You can install the cot command-line tool to the desired location by creating a symbolic link in Terminal. The cot substance is bundled at 'Contents/SharedSupport/bin/cot' in CotEditor.app. Unless you are particular about the location, we recommend creating the symbolic link at '/usr/local/bin/'.
To create a symbolic link at the recommended location, run the following lines in Terminal.
mkdir /usr/local/bin/
ln -s /Applications/CotEditor.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/cot /usr/local/bin/cotIn macOS, user authorization is required to control CotEditor from other applications in which cot command is used. The authorization is normally done by the dialog that appears when using the cot command for the first time. However, in some cases, you may need to authorize it manually from System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation. Select the checkbox for CotEditor (and also System Events for --wait option) under your client application, such as Terminal.
The cot command is implemented in Python 3. However, because Python has no longer been bundled into the system since macOS 12.3, you need to install python3 manually for the cot command.
The developer tools provided by Apple include python3. Run the following line in Terminal to install Apple’s Command Line Developer Tools. Obviously, any python3 installed by other methods can be used as well.
xcode-select --installTo uninstall cot command at the recommended location above in Terminal is like the following:
unlink /usr/local/bin/cotThe following options can be used on cot command.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
-w, --wait | Wait for opened file to be closed before returning to a prompt. |
-n, --new | Create a new blank document. |
-s, --syntax | Set specific syntax to opened document. |
-l, --line <line> | Jump to specific line in opened document. <line> is an integer specifying the number of line. |
-c, --column <column> | Jump to specific column in opened document. <column> is an integer specifying the number of column. |
-b, --background | Do not bring the application to the foreground. |
-h, --help | Show help. |
-v, --version | Print version information. |
For --line and --column options, you can specify a negative number to count from the end of the document (--line option) or a line (--column option).
A simple cot command launches CotEditor, or just activate it if CotEditor is already running.
cot
The following command opens the foo.txt file on CotEditor and moves the insertion point to line 200 in the opened document. cot command does nothing if foo.txt file does not exist.
cot --line 200 foo.txt
The following command opens the foo.txt file on CotEditor and moves the insertion point to the end of the document.
cot --line -1 --column -1 foo.txt
You can also pipe a text. Then, CotEditor opens a new document with the piped text.
echo "I am a dog but also a cow at the same time." | cot
Using --wait option, CotEditor can be used as the editor for git.
git config --global core.editor "cot -w"