Extract text from COMMAND files
To convert your COMMAND file to another format, you need Apple Terminal or other Developer software.
To convert other file formats to the "Shell Script" file type, you need software like Apple Terminal or a similar tool.
A .command file is predominantly a macOS Terminal Shell Script, essentially a plain text file containing a series of commands (written in Bash or Zsh) designed to be executed via the Apple Terminal. Unlike standard SH scripts, a .command file is specifically flagged to launch the Terminal window and execute immediately when double-clicked in the macOS Finder. While convenient for automation, this is often frustrating: users often cannot edit the file easily because double-clicking executes it rather than opening a text editor, and the files are completely incompatible with Windows (which uses BAT or CMD) or standard Linux environments without modification.
Furthermore, strict macOS security protocols often block these files from running if they lack chmod +x executable permissions or originate from an unidentified developer, resulting in confusing "permission denied" errors. A minority of these files (approx. 7%) may be Key Command presets for Logic Pro, which are ZIP-compressed archives containing XML data. To safely view the underlying code without triggering execution, or to port the script to other operating systems, users should convert .command files to TXT for safe editing, SH for Linux compatibility, or PDF for documentation and archiving.
Convert.Guru analyzes your COMMAND file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted CMD, BAT, TXT, APPLESCRIPT, WOA and D2WMODEL files.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our COMMAND converter.