How to copy file path on a mac?

Question

Windows refugee here. On Windows you can easily copy the path and paste it elsewhere to get to the directory.

Here is the situation on the Mac. I am in the Finder 20 folders down and I see the file I want. I go to my application and want to open it, so I pick Open Document from the File menu. However, it is exceedingly difficult and time-consuming to get to the place I want.

Is there a way to copy the path in the finder and paste it in the File Open dialog of my application?

Answer 1

I can do one better: Drag the file itself into the File Open dialog of your application, and the dialog will jump to that folder, with that file highlighted, ready for you to click Open. :)

You can also right-click (hold Control and left-click, or better yet, open the Mouse pane of System Preferences and enable "Secondary Click" for your right mouse button) on the file in Finder, and click Open or Open With.

Some more helpful links:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2512

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2514

http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/

Answer 2

I use Default Folder extensively, and if you have the Finder window open you can simply click it and it moves to that folder.

You can also "Get Info" (Apple + I) and under "Where:" you will see the parent folder path, which you can copy and then append the folder name to it.

Answer 3

You can press ⇧⌘G in file dialogs to display the Go to the folder sheet. If the clipboard contains a reference to a folder (but not a path as text), you can open the sheet with the path filled in by pressing ⌘V. That only seems to work for save dialogs (or sheets), not open dialogs.

An AppleScript that copies the paths of selected Finder items separated by newlines:

tell application "Finder"
    set l to {}
    repeat with f in (get selection)
        set end of l to POSIX path of (f as text)
    end repeat
end tell
set text item delimiters to linefeed
set the clipboard to (l as text)

Answer 4

In the finder, CMD+C usually just copies the "name" of the file..

If, however, after copying the file in the Finder normally, you switch to /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app, and paste,_ aka_ CMD+V, it will display the full directory Path… which you can then, more substantially… copy and Paste… In this example, I am currently in the global Folder in Terminal, and then copied index.php in the Finder and then pasted, while in the Terminal…

# localadmin@dns: /Web/global >  11:42:33  :-(  
/Volumes/+10RAID2000/index.php

It's also worth noting that the über-Finder-replacement, TotalFinder adds some nice options to the Finder's contextual menus in regards to Path Copying….

Cheers.