How to Copy a File Path and Cut and Paste Files on a Mac
Two Windows habits trip up almost everyone who moves to a Mac: copying a file's full path, and cutting a file to paste it somewhere else. Both are possible in the Finder, just hidden behind the ⌥ Option key. Here is the short answer:
- Copy a file's path: select the file and press ⌥⌘C, or right-click it, hold ⌥ and choose Copy "name" as Pathname.
- Cut and paste a file: press ⌘C on the file, go to the destination folder, then press ⌥⌘V (Move Item Here). ⌘X does not cut files in the Finder.
The rest of this article explains each method, a few other ways to get a path, and how a file manager can give you the real ⌘X / ⌘V back.
How to copy a file's path in the Finder
On Windows, "Copy as path" gives you something like C:\Users\Alex\Documents\report.pdf. On a Mac, a full path looks like /Users/alex/Documents/report.pdf: forward slashes, no drive letter, and every disk lives under /Volumes.
The Option key in the context menu
- Right-click (or ⌃-click) the file or folder.
- Hold ⌥ Option. Copy "name" changes to Copy "name" as Pathname.
- Click it. The full path is now on the clipboard, ready to paste into a terminal, a script, an email or a chat.
The same command is in the Finder's Edit menu while you hold ⌥, and its shortcut works directly: select the item and press ⌥⌘C. With several items selected, you get one path per line.
Other ways to get a path
- The path bar. In the Finder, choose View › Show Path Bar (⌥⌘P). The bottom of the window shows the folders leading to the current item, and you can double-click any of them to jump there.
- Get Info. ⌘I shows the enclosing folder under Where; you can select that text and copy it.
- Drag into Terminal. Dropping a file onto a Terminal window types its full path, with spaces escaped.
- Go back from a path. If someone sends you a path, press ⇧⌘G (Go to Folder) in the Finder and paste it.
How to cut and paste files on a Mac
In the Finder, Edit › Cut stays grayed out when files are selected: ⌘X only cuts text, for example while you rename a file. Moving a file with the keyboard is a two-step copy and "move":
- Select the files and press ⌘C.
- Open the folder where they should go.
- Press ⌥⌘V. In the Edit menu, holding ⌥ turns Paste Item into Move Item Here.
The files leave their original folder; nothing is duplicated. If you press ⌘V instead, you get a copy and the originals stay where they were. Changed your mind right after? ⌘Z in the Finder undoes the last move.
Two things to keep in mind:
- Nothing marks the files as "about to move" between the two steps, unlike the faded icons of Windows. You have to remember which shortcut you will use at the end.
- Dragging works too: dragging within the same disk moves, dragging to another disk copies, and holding ⌘ while you drag to another disk moves instead.
Folia Files: a real cut and paste, and the path always in view
Folia Files is a file manager for the Mac that keeps the habits people bring from Windows, which is why it has a page on File Explorer habits on a Mac. For these two tasks, it works like this.
⌘X and ⌘V move files
Select files in a pane and press ⌘X: they look faded until you paste them. Open another folder and press ⌘V: they are moved there. Cut and Paste are also in the Edit menu and in the context menu of the files.
The Finder's way still works: ⌘C copies, and ⌥⌘V (Edit › Move Item Here, or Move Here when you right-click an empty spot of a folder) moves what you copied instead of duplicating it.
These keys only act on files when the pane itself has the focus. In a text field, or while you rename a file, ⌘X cuts text as usual, so a shortcut typed in the wrong place never moves a file.
With two panes side by side, you don't even need the clipboard: File › Move to Other Pane (F6) moves the selection to the folder shown in the other pane, and Copy to Other Pane (F5) copies it, as in Total Commander. More on that on the panes page.
Copy a path in the format you need
Edit › Copy Path (⌥⌘C, the same shortcut as the Finder) copies the full path of the selected items, one per line. With nothing selected, it copies the path of the folder you are in.
Right-click a file for the Copy Path submenu, with the variants you would otherwise fix by hand:
- Path:
/Users/alex/Documents/report.pdf - Path with ~:
~/Documents/report.pdf - Path for Terminal (Escaped): spaces and special characters escaped, ready to paste after a command
- File URL:
file:///Users/alex/Documents/report.pdf - Name: only the file name
- Enclosing Folder: the path of the folder that contains it
On a connected server, the submenu also offers the path on the server and, for SFTP, the sftp:// address.
The path is always visible
Every pane shows its location at the top, folder by folder, without turning on a path bar. Click a folder in it to go there, or click the chevron after a folder to list its subfolders and jump into one. Go › Go to Folder… (⇧⌘G) takes a pasted path, as in the Finder.
Undo any move, even later
Every cut and paste, copy, rename or trash goes into the Operations history, in the toolbar. ⌘Z undoes the last one and ⇧⌘Z redoes it, but you can also undo a single line from earlier in the day, or from yesterday, as long as the files are still where the move left them.
If a file with the same name is already in the destination, Folia Files asks, with Keep Both as the default button; when you replace a file, the old one goes to the Trash rather than disappearing. The safe file operations page has the details.
Quick reference
- Copy a file's path: ⌥⌘C in both. In the Finder, right-click and hold ⌥; in Folia Files, right-click › Copy Path for the other formats.
- Cut and paste: in the Finder, ⌘C then ⌥⌘V; in Folia Files, ⌘X then ⌘V (the Finder's way works too).
- Move to the other pane: F6 in Folia Files; the Finder has no two-pane view.
- See the full path: View › Show Path Bar in the Finder; at the top of every pane in Folia Files.
- Open a pasted path: ⇧⌘G in both.
- Undo a move: ⌘Z in both; in Folia Files, also any line of the history.
Everything in this article works in both editions of Folia Files, the one from the website and the one from the Mac App Store.
