macOS: How to Access iCloud Drive in Terminal

OSXDaily has a great tip on how to access iCloud Drive in Terminal. If you prefer the Terminal over the GUI, or just want a different way to create and move files and folders, this is the tip for you.

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iCloud Drive in Terminal

First, we’ll need to know the file path of iCloud Drive:

 /Library/Mobile\ Documents/com apple CloudDocs/

Now, to navigate to iCloud Drive, we’ll be using the CD command, like so:

Changing directories

cd  /Library/Mobile\ Documents/com apple CloudDocs/

You can use the command “ls” to get a list of the folders in each directory.

Copy Files

Now in order to copy files to iCloud Drive, you can use the “cp” command:

cp  /Desktop/filename.zip  /Library/Mobile\ Documents/com apple CloudDocs/

If you’ve already navigated to iCloud Drive, you’ll have to change directories to copy files. That’s what the CD command is. So before you copy a file to iCloud Drive, move back to your user directory:

cd /Users/USERNAME

Then you can copy a file with the previous command. It’s a bit confusing if you’re not used to Terminal.

Page 2: Copying and Moving Files and Folders

Page 2 – Copying and Moving Files and Folders

Copy Folders

Copying a folder (a.k.a. a directory) is similar to the copy file command, except we need to add the -a option:

cp -a  /Desktop/foldername  /Library/Mobile\ Documents/com apple CloudDocs/

Copying a folder/directory

Moving Files and Folders

Instead of copying, you can move a file to change its location:

mv  /Desktop/filename.zip  /Library/Mobile\ Documents/com apple CloudDocs/

This command works for both files and folders.

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