Why does OS X Terminal say 'unknown:~'?












1















When I open Terminal, it comes up with unknown:~ (user name) and will not allow me to do anything.



I haven't done anything to cause this, this is how the Mac started up.










share|improve this question




















  • 1





    It's just the shell prompt, and it probably just cannot figure out your current host name. Shouldn't be anything to worry about. What do you mean by 'will not allow me to do anything' -- have you tried typing? Related: superuser.com/questions/49891/…

    – Daniel Beck
    Aug 18 '13 at 21:28


















1















When I open Terminal, it comes up with unknown:~ (user name) and will not allow me to do anything.



I haven't done anything to cause this, this is how the Mac started up.










share|improve this question




















  • 1





    It's just the shell prompt, and it probably just cannot figure out your current host name. Shouldn't be anything to worry about. What do you mean by 'will not allow me to do anything' -- have you tried typing? Related: superuser.com/questions/49891/…

    – Daniel Beck
    Aug 18 '13 at 21:28
















1












1








1








When I open Terminal, it comes up with unknown:~ (user name) and will not allow me to do anything.



I haven't done anything to cause this, this is how the Mac started up.










share|improve this question
















When I open Terminal, it comes up with unknown:~ (user name) and will not allow me to do anything.



I haven't done anything to cause this, this is how the Mac started up.







macos terminal






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Aug 18 '13 at 21:32









Daniel Beck

92.2k12232284




92.2k12232284










asked Aug 18 '13 at 21:26









callumcallum

612




612








  • 1





    It's just the shell prompt, and it probably just cannot figure out your current host name. Shouldn't be anything to worry about. What do you mean by 'will not allow me to do anything' -- have you tried typing? Related: superuser.com/questions/49891/…

    – Daniel Beck
    Aug 18 '13 at 21:28
















  • 1





    It's just the shell prompt, and it probably just cannot figure out your current host name. Shouldn't be anything to worry about. What do you mean by 'will not allow me to do anything' -- have you tried typing? Related: superuser.com/questions/49891/…

    – Daniel Beck
    Aug 18 '13 at 21:28










1




1





It's just the shell prompt, and it probably just cannot figure out your current host name. Shouldn't be anything to worry about. What do you mean by 'will not allow me to do anything' -- have you tried typing? Related: superuser.com/questions/49891/…

– Daniel Beck
Aug 18 '13 at 21:28







It's just the shell prompt, and it probably just cannot figure out your current host name. Shouldn't be anything to worry about. What do you mean by 'will not allow me to do anything' -- have you tried typing? Related: superuser.com/questions/49891/…

– Daniel Beck
Aug 18 '13 at 21:28












1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















0














The unknown: part of the prompt is your computer's hostname.



Os X sets the hostname in quite a complicate way.




  1. The name provided by the DHCP or BootP server for the primary IP address

  2. The first name returned by a reverse DNS (address-to-name) query for the primary IP address

  3. The local hostname (set in the Sharing pane of System Preferences)

  4. The name localhost


In the usual case, the hostname is your Computer Name as defined in Sharing-Preference Pane. You can change it at System Preferences -> Sharing -> Computer Name



I can't help you with Terminal being unresponsive at this point. Please provide more information on how things got this way.






share|improve this answer























    Your Answer








    StackExchange.ready(function() {
    var channelOptions = {
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "3"
    };
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
    createEditor();
    });
    }
    else {
    createEditor();
    }
    });

    function createEditor() {
    StackExchange.prepareEditor({
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
    convertImagesToLinks: true,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: 10,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader: {
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    },
    onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    });


    }
    });














    draft saved

    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function () {
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f633459%2fwhy-does-os-x-terminal-say-unknown%23new-answer', 'question_page');
    }
    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes








    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    0














    The unknown: part of the prompt is your computer's hostname.



    Os X sets the hostname in quite a complicate way.




    1. The name provided by the DHCP or BootP server for the primary IP address

    2. The first name returned by a reverse DNS (address-to-name) query for the primary IP address

    3. The local hostname (set in the Sharing pane of System Preferences)

    4. The name localhost


    In the usual case, the hostname is your Computer Name as defined in Sharing-Preference Pane. You can change it at System Preferences -> Sharing -> Computer Name



    I can't help you with Terminal being unresponsive at this point. Please provide more information on how things got this way.






    share|improve this answer




























      0














      The unknown: part of the prompt is your computer's hostname.



      Os X sets the hostname in quite a complicate way.




      1. The name provided by the DHCP or BootP server for the primary IP address

      2. The first name returned by a reverse DNS (address-to-name) query for the primary IP address

      3. The local hostname (set in the Sharing pane of System Preferences)

      4. The name localhost


      In the usual case, the hostname is your Computer Name as defined in Sharing-Preference Pane. You can change it at System Preferences -> Sharing -> Computer Name



      I can't help you with Terminal being unresponsive at this point. Please provide more information on how things got this way.






      share|improve this answer


























        0












        0








        0







        The unknown: part of the prompt is your computer's hostname.



        Os X sets the hostname in quite a complicate way.




        1. The name provided by the DHCP or BootP server for the primary IP address

        2. The first name returned by a reverse DNS (address-to-name) query for the primary IP address

        3. The local hostname (set in the Sharing pane of System Preferences)

        4. The name localhost


        In the usual case, the hostname is your Computer Name as defined in Sharing-Preference Pane. You can change it at System Preferences -> Sharing -> Computer Name



        I can't help you with Terminal being unresponsive at this point. Please provide more information on how things got this way.






        share|improve this answer













        The unknown: part of the prompt is your computer's hostname.



        Os X sets the hostname in quite a complicate way.




        1. The name provided by the DHCP or BootP server for the primary IP address

        2. The first name returned by a reverse DNS (address-to-name) query for the primary IP address

        3. The local hostname (set in the Sharing pane of System Preferences)

        4. The name localhost


        In the usual case, the hostname is your Computer Name as defined in Sharing-Preference Pane. You can change it at System Preferences -> Sharing -> Computer Name



        I can't help you with Terminal being unresponsive at this point. Please provide more information on how things got this way.







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered Aug 20 '13 at 20:58









        Pasi JokinenPasi Jokinen

        578311




        578311






























            draft saved

            draft discarded




















































            Thanks for contributing an answer to Super User!


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid



            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f633459%2fwhy-does-os-x-terminal-say-unknown%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            Popular posts from this blog

            How to make a Squid Proxy server?

            Is this a new Fibonacci Identity?

            Touch on Surface Book