Summary
How to obtain the version, build number, current operating system, or other system details from Terminal or an SSH session.
Environment
macOS
Directions
To obtain the software version, run the command: sw_vers
The command outputs 3 lines: ProductName, ProductVersion, and BuildVersion. If you wish to get just one of them, you can use one of these:
sw_vers -productName
sw_vers -productVersion
sw_vers -buildVersion
For example:
bash-3.2$ sw_vers
ProductName: macOS
ProductVersion: 13.2.1
BuildVersion: 2268D
You can view an extended list of system details with the command:system_profiler SPHardwareDataType
For example:
Hardware Overview:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro15,1
Processor Name: 6-Core Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.6 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 6
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 12 MB
Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled
Memory: 16 GB
System Firmware Version: 1916.80.2.0.0 (iBridge: 20.16.3045.0.0,0)
OS Loader Version: 564.40.4~66
Serial Number (system): C02ZD1SELVDT
Hardware UUID: F6C595A0-4E72-5BD7-86A6-F6329B928252
Provisioning UDID: F6C595A0-4E72-5BD7-86A6-F6329B928252
Activation Lock Status: Disabled
There are also sub commands for this command that you can use as well:
- Command usage —
system_profiler -usage
- Find detail options —
system_profiler -listDataTypes
:
- Memory —
system_profiler SPMemoryDataType
- Network —
system_profiler SPNetworkDataType
- Hard Drives —
system_profiler SPStorageDataType