When using Finder, my Applications folder shows a ton of apps. But when I go into it using Terminal, only two show up. What would cause such a weird situation?
Thank you!
iMac 27″, macOS 11.6
There is the Applications folder that you see in the Finder window Favorites sidebar which contains installed Apple and third-party applications. There is a second Application folder within your home directory when you first open the Finder, and there should be nothing in it unless you put it there, as it is not targeted by installers, and is purely optional. Personally, I never use this local Applications folder, choosing to pretend it does not exist.
There is the Applications folder that you see in the Finder window Favorites sidebar which contains installed Apple and third-party applications. There is a second Application folder within your home directory when you first open the Finder, and there should be nothing in it unless you put it there, as it is not targeted by installers, and is purely optional. Personally, I never use this local Applications folder, choosing to pretend it does not exist.
NOTE: I'm doing this on a Monterey 12.5 system, so if there are differences, they are operating system specific
Continuing with VikingOSX, you see the applications included with macOS (these cannot be deleted) using
/bin/ls /System/Applications
You see the applications you have installed that are available for all users using
/bin/ls /Applications
You see the applications just for your account using
/bin/ls $HOME/Applications
And you can see the core services applications using
/bin/ls /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications
All users of that Mac can launch apps from /Applications whereas ~/Applications is accessible only to you.
I'm in agreement with VikingOSX: "Personally, I never use this local Applications folder, choosing to pretend it does not exist."
I suspect you are looking at ~/Applications and not /Applications.
Please provide the exact terminal command that was used.
Once that is shared - will attempt to verified if that works on my machines
That did the trick, thank you. What is the difference between the two?
Why are only 2 apps showing when I visit the Applications folder using Terminal?
