Shell command not found in VS Code

I just followed the top-voted answer here and successfully installed Visual Studio Code's code command in my terminal.

However, the code command fails to launch Visual Studio Code every time after I restart my MacBook Pro.

~ code zsh: command not found: code

Is it possible to install code permanently so that I don't have to install it every time I turn on my MacBook Pro?

~ where code /usr/local/bin/code ~ ls -l /usr/local/bin/code lrwxr-xr-x 1 myName admin 167 Aug 5 13:41 /usr/local/bin/code -> /private/var/folders/bh/525lnbns1213cx2651s97my00000gp/T/AppTranslocation/EA379FC4-05D2-4739-BE49-1D8870E47B8A/d/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin/code

I also find out that the folder EA379FC4-05D2-4739-BE49-1D8870E47B8A get deleted after I restart my laptop.

This is the reason that I cannot run code after the laptop is restarted.

Why is code installed in a temporary folder?

My MacBook Pro's version is macOS Sierra version 10.12.6

I am very new to Linux and WSL overall. I was able to use code . to open my current directory in VSCode, but after deleting something that I do not remember it just doesn't work anymore. I put in the command and it just hangs there.

I have deleted my Ubuntu-20.04 instance and recreated it, but still it will not work. Also checked my $PATH and it seems to be there.

Also, the add shell command in VSCode does not come up, so I can't uninstall and reinstall the shell shortcut.

Anyone have any idea?

drewbie@drewbie:/$ echo $PATH /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/usr/lib/wsl/lib:/mnt/c/Windows/system32:/mnt/c/Windows:/mnt/c/Windows/System32/Wbem:/mnt/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/:/mnt/c/Windows/System32/OpenSSH/:/mnt/c/Program Files/NVIDIA Corporation/NVIDIA NvDLISR:/mnt/c/Program Files (x86)/NVIDIA Corporation/PhysX/Common:/mnt/c/Program Files/dotnet/:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/system32:/mnt/c/WINDOWS:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/Wbem:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/:/mnt/c/WINDOWS/System32/OpenSSH/:/mnt/c/Program Files (x86)/QuickTime/QTSystem/:/mnt/c/Program Files/Git/cmd:/mnt/c/Program Files/Go/bin:/mnt/c/Program Files/Docker/Docker/resources/bin:/mnt/c/ProgramData/DockerDesktop/version-bin:/mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps:/mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin:/mnt/c/Program Files/heroku/bin:/mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/GitHubDesktop/bin:/mnt/c/Users/Andrew/go/bin:/snap/bin

whereis and which

drewbie@drewbie:~$ whereis code code: /mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin/code /mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin/code.cmd drewbie@drewbie:~$ which code /mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin/code

After doing what @NotTheDr01ds said in the thread below

drewbie@drewbie:~$ vi "$(which code)" drewbie@drewbie:~$ code . + [ = true ] + COMMIT=899d46d82c4c95423fb7e10e68eba52050e30ba3 + APP_NAME=code + QUALITY=stable + NAME=Code + DATAFOLDER=.vscode + realpath /mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin/code + dirname /mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin/code + dirname /mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin + VSCODE_PATH=/mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code + ELECTRON=/mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/Code.exe + IN_WSL=false + [ -n Ubuntu-20.04 ] + IN_WSL=true + [ true = true ] + export WSLENV=ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE/w:WT_SESSION::WT_PROFILE_ID + wslpath -m /mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/resources/app/out/cli.js + CLI=C:/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/resources/app/out/cli.js + WSL_EXT_ID=ms-vscode-remote.remote-wsl + ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=1 /mnt/c/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/Code.exe C:/Users/Andrew/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/resources/app/out/cli.js --ms-enable-electron-run-as-node --locate-extension ms-vscode-remote.remote-wsl

Code Command Is Not Found In Mac With Code Examples

The solution to Code Command Is Not Found In Mac will be demonstrated using examples in this article.

sudo ln -fs "/Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin/code" /usr/local/bin/

The exact problem Code Command Is Not Found In Mac can be fixed by employing an alternative technique, which is outlined in the next section along with some code samples for reference.

export PATH="$PATH:/Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin" Open the Command Palette via (⇧⌘P) and type shell command to find the Shell Command: > Install 'code' command in PATH** command

We were able to figure out how to solve the Code Command Is Not Found In Mac code by looking at a range of other samples.

How do I find the command code on a Mac?

Launch VS Code. Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) and type 'shell command' to find the Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH command.

How do I enable command prompt on Mac?

On your Mac, do one of the following: Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, type Terminal in the search field, then click Terminal. In the Finder , open the /Applications/Utilities folder, then double-click Terminal.

How do I update Visual Studio Code on Mac?

If you've selected the option to Check Automatically, the Visual Studio Update box will pop up when Visual Studio for Mac is open to let you know that new updates are available. New updates will start downloading automatically to your machine when the updater box appears.24-May-2022

How do I download or code on Mac?

Mac OS X

Download Visual Studio Code for Mac OS X.
Double-click on VSCode-osx. zip to expand the contents.
Drag Visual Studio Code. app to the Applications folder, making it available in the Launchpad .
Add VS Code to your Dock by right-clicking on the icon and choosing Options , Keep in Dock .

How do I open code editor in terminal Mac?

Once your terminal is open, you can open VS Code from it by typing $ code . Then hit enter .04-Jan-2022

How do I run code in terminal?

About This Article

Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open the Terminal.
Type the name of the program you want to launch.
Press Enter.

What is cmd on Mac keyboard?

The Command key (sometimes abbreviated as Cmd key), ⌘, formerly also known as the Apple key or open Apple key, is a modifier key present on Apple keyboards. The Command key's purpose is to allow the user to enter keyboard commands in applications and in the system.

Is Mac Terminal the same as command prompt?

A command line, also known as a command prompt, is a type of interface. A terminal is a wrapper program that runs a shell and allows us to enter commands. The console is a type of terminal. It is a window in which your text-mode programs are active.29-Jun-2021

How do I open command prompt as administrator on Mac?

To run commands with superuser privileges, use the sudo command. sudo stands for superuser do. You're asked for the password of the current user. You're asked to enter the password for adminUsername, after which a new shell is opened for that user.

Where is VS Code installed Mac?

Answer: A: Answer: A: When you download, and unzip Visual Studio Code, it remains in the Downloads folder, and is not automatically installed in your /Applications folder. It is up to you to drag/drop the application into your /Applications folder.17-Apr-2017

Visual Studio Code has a powerful command-line interface built-in that lets you control how you launch the editor. You can open files, install extensions, change the display language, and output diagnostics through command-line options (switches).

If you are looking for how to run command-line tools inside VS Code, see the Integrated Terminal.

Command line help

To get an overview of the VS Code command-line interface, open a terminal or command prompt and type code --help. You will see the version, usage example, and list of command line options.

Launching from command line

You can launch VS Code from the command line to quickly open a file, folder, or project. Typically, you open VS Code within the context of a folder. To do this, from an open terminal or command prompt, navigate to your project folder and type code .:

Note: Users on macOS must first run a command (Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH) to add VS Code executable to the PATH environment variable. Read the macOS setup guide for help.

Windows and Linux installations should add the VS Code binaries location to your system path. If this isn't the case, you can manually add the location to the Path environment variable ($PATH on Linux). For example, on Windows, VS Code is installed under AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin. To review platform-specific setup instructions, see Setup.

Insiders: If you are using the VS Code Insiders preview, you launch your Insiders build with code-insiders.

Core CLI options

Here are optional arguments you can use when starting VS Code at the command line via code:

Argument	Description
-h or --help	Print usage
-v or --version	Print VS Code version (for example, 1.22.2), GitHub commit ID, and architecture (for example, x64).
-n or --new-window	Opens a new session of VS Code instead of restoring the previous session (default).
-r or --reuse-window	Forces opening a file or folder in the last active window.
-g or --goto	When used with file:line{:character}, opens a file at a specific line and optional character position. This argument is provided since some operating systems permit : in a file name.
-d or --diff <file1> <file2>	Open a file difference editor. Requires two file paths as arguments.
-m or --merge <path1> <path2> <base> <result>	Perform a three-way merge by providing paths for two modified versions of a file, the common origin of both modified versions, and the output file to save merge results.
-w or --wait	Wait for the files to be closed before returning.
--locale <locale>	Set the display language (locale) for the VS Code session. (for example, en-US or zh-TW)

Opening Files and Folders

Sometimes you will want to open or create a file. If the specified file does not exist, VS Code will create them for you along with any new intermediate folders:

code index.html style.css documentation\readme.md

For both files and folders, you can use absolute or relative paths. Relative paths are relative to the current directory of the command prompt where you run code.

If you specify more than one file at the command line, VS Code will open only a single instance.

If you specify more than one folder at the command line, VS Code will create a Multi-root Workspace including each folder.

Argument	Description
file	Name of a file to open. If the file doesn't exist, it will be created and marked as edited. You can specify multiple files by separating each file name with a space.
file:line[:character]	Used with the -g argument. Name of a file to open at the specified line and optional character position.
folder	Name of a folder to open. You can specify multiple folders and a new Multi-root Workspace is created.

Working with extensions

You can install and manage VS Code extensions from the command line.

Argument	Description
--install-extension <ext>	Install an extension. Provide the full extension name publisher.extension as an argument. Use --force argument to avoid prompts.
--uninstall-extension <ext>	Uninstall an extension. Provide the full extension name publisher.extension as an argument.
--disable-extensions	Disable all installed extensions. Extensions will still be visible in the Disabled section of the Extensions view but they will never be activated.
--list-extensions	List the installed extensions.
--show-versions	Show versions of installed extensions, when using --list-extensions
--enable-proposed-api <ext>	Enables proposed api features for an extension. Provide the full extension name publisher.extension as an argument.

Advanced CLI options

There are several CLI options that help with reproducing errors and advanced setup.

Argument	Description
--extensions-dir <dir>	Set the root path for extensions. Has no effect in Portable Mode.
--user-data-dir <dir>	Specifies the directory that user data is kept in, useful when running as root. Has no effect in Portable Mode.
-s, --status	Print process usage and diagnostics information.
-p, --performance	Start with the Developer: Startup Performance command enabled.
--disable-gpu	Disable GPU hardware acceleration.
--verbose	Print verbose output (implies --wait).
--prof-startup	Run CPU profiler during startup.
--upload-logs	Uploads logs from current session to a secure endpoint.
Multi-root
--add <dir>	Add folder(s) to the last active window for a multi-root workspace.

Opening VS Code with URLs

You can also open projects and files using the platform's URL handling mechanism. Use the following URL formats to:

Open a project

vscode://file/{full path to project}/ vscode://file/c:/myProject/

Open a file

vscode://file/{full path to file} vscode://file/c:/myProject/package.json

Open a file to line and column

vscode://file/{full path to file}:line:column vscode://file/c:/myProject/package.json:5:10

You can use the URL in applications such as browsers or file explorers that can parse and redirect the URL. For example, on Windows, you could pass a vscode:// URL directly to the Windows Explorer or to the command line as start vscode://{full path to file}.

Note: If you are using VS Code Insiders builds, the URL prefix is vscode-insiders://.

Next steps

Read on to find out about:

Common questions

'code' is not recognized as an internal or external command

Your OS cannot find the VS Code binary code on its path. The VS Code Windows and Linux installations should have installed VS Code on your path. Try uninstalling and reinstalling VS Code. If code is still not found, consult the platform-specific setup topics for Windows and Linux.

On macOS, you need to manually run the Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH command (available through the Command Palette ⇧⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+P)). Consult the macOS specific setup topic for details.

How do I get access to a command line (terminal) from within VS Code?

VS Code has an Integrated Terminal where you can run command-line tools from within VS Code.

Can I specify the settings location for VS Code in order to have a portable version?

Not directly through the command line, but VS Code has a Portable Mode, which lets you keep settings and data in the same location as your installation, for example, on a USB drive.

11/2/2022