Change Profiles Shell preferences in Terminal on Mac

Use Shell preferences in Terminal to change the startup or exit behavior of the shell for a Terminal window profile.

To change these preferences in the Terminal app on your Mac, choose Terminal > Preferences, click Profiles, select a profile, then click Shell.

Note: The options you choose in this preference pane apply only to the profile you select. They don’t apply to the Terminal app in general.

Option	Description
Startup	Set a command to run when the shell starts up. Run command: Enter the path to the command. Run inside shell: Select to have the command run inside the shell.
When the shell exits	To change the way the window behaves when the shell exits, click the pop-up menu, then choose an option: Close the window: The Terminal window closes upon exit. Close if the shell exited cleanly: The Terminal window stays open if there was an error upon exit; otherwise, it closes. Don’t close the window: The Terminal window stays open upon exit.
Ask before closing	Select whether to receive an alert before processes are terminated. Always: Displays an alert before any process is terminated. Never: Terminates processes without an alert. Only if there are processes other than the login shell and: Terminates the listed processes without an alert, but provides an alert before terminating any process that’s not in the list. To add a process to the list, click the Add button , then enter the name of the process. To remove a process from the list, select the process, then click the Remove button .

Option

Description

Startup

Set a command to run when the shell starts up.

When the shell exits

To change the way the window behaves when the shell exits, click the pop-up menu, then choose an option:

Close the window: The Terminal window closes upon exit.
Close if the shell exited cleanly: The Terminal window stays open if there was an error upon exit; otherwise, it closes.
Don’t close the window: The Terminal window stays open upon exit.

Ask before closing

Select whether to receive an alert before processes are terminated.

Always: Displays an alert before any process is terminated.
Never: Terminates processes without an alert.
Only if there are processes other than the login shell and: Terminates the listed processes without an alert, but provides an alert before terminating any process that’s not in the list.
To add a process to the list, click the Add button , then enter the name of the process.
To remove a process from the list, select the process, then click the Remove button .

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Terminal User Guide