caffeinate - A Terminal Command to Temporarily Prevent your Mac from Sleeping

A User Tip Authored by TheLittles of the Apple Support Community:

caffeinate - A Terminal Command to Temporarily Prevent your Mac from Sleeping

Ever streamed with Netflix or YouTube, and your Mac falls asleep? Well, why download a third-party application, or fiddle with Settings/Preferences, when all you need to do is run one command in Terminal? There is an easy workaround...

Launch the caffeinate Terminal command:

caffeinate

When complete, end this command in Terminal with [control + C]

A. What you'll Avoid with caffeinate:

• Unnecessary purchasing of a Third-Party Application
• Frustratingly fiddling with your Display settings in System Settings (formerly called Preferences)

B. Why to Use caffeinate:

• Prevent your Mac from sleeping while streaming content (i.e. Netflix and YouTube).
• Prevent loss of data from not-responding applications
• Prevent Boot Loops from occurring while updating with iTunes or Finder

C. How to Use caffeinate:

Launching the caffeinate command in Terminal:

1. Go to: Applications folder
2. Click: Utilities subfolder
3. Open: Terminal
4. Type: caffeinate (Screenshot 1.)
5. Launch: caffeinate [Press: return] (Screenshot 2.)
6. Perform: your task (i.e Streaming Netflix and YouTube content).
7. Go to: Terminal
8. End: caffeinate running[Hold Down: control + Press: C] (Screenshot 3.)
9. Close: Terminal

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NOTES:

• Based on:

My Reply to this thread: Mac sleeps during Netflix despite sleep settings - Apple Community

• Screenshots:

Personal info is blocked out with red-colored rectangles

Screenshot 1.

Typing caffeinate in Terminal:

Screenshot 2.

Launching caffeinate in Terminal:

While running, a grey-box will appear one character on the proceeding line:

Screenshot 3.

Ending caffeinate:

There is a caret, followed by a C. The default command shell is shown in the next line, indicating the command has stopped.