Applications don't show in terminal

Question

When I 'cd' into Applications in terminal, none of my applications show. Any advice on how I can fix this?

(The "" and - are just my name)

""-MacBook-Pro:Applications -$ ls

""-MacBook-Pro:Applications -$

Answer 1

Don't forget the slash / before Applications since you are trying to access a top level directory.

cd /Applications/

Answer 2

In most operating systems many of the files are hidden by default, these are usually setting files and things like that that a regular user wouldn't usually have to access. When you type ls it will only show "visible" files. To see "hidden" files you need to use: ls -a , you can also get more information on files such as size and read/write permissions with ls -al

Answer 3

For the application view in the finder window, what is displayed is not really what is stored in the system. The view of applications in the finder window is more of and end-user friendly view. From the finder window you can right click and get info on any of the apps. View the Where: metadata. This reveals the true path. Often the application binary will resides in root/Applications/System/AppName/Contents/AppNameBinary. In the terminal the Applications folder under your profile stores app settings specific to your user account.